Rowan Bulmer - Swinging London's Forgotten Photographer

From Biba's advertising campaign, London, Kensington, 1966

Recently, I've been flicking through London fashion/culture magazine Jocks & Nerds, where I found the article about 1960's London photographer Rowan Bulmer. Unlike his contemporaries David Bailey, Terence Donovan, Brian Duffy, Robert Whittaker and many others, Rowan Bulmer and his work remain almost completely unknown today - which is unusual, considering Bulmer's high profile in the 1960's. He was friends with The Rolling Stones (reportedly, he introduced Mick Jagger to Chrissie Shrimpton), he photographed and hung out with Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Rod Stewart, he was an official photographer for Mod meccas - TV programme Ready Steady Go! and Marquee club. He did first ever Biba advertising campaign and countless fashion photoshoots. Normally, a photographer of such calibre would today have his work published in a Taschen coffee table book, exhibited in museums, and the prints would sell a £100+ per pop. But not Rowan Bulmer. There are various reasons for that. As Chris May wrote in Jocks & Nerds:  Driven by passion rather than careerism, Bulmer never bothered to archive his work. What's more, The Marquee club, which stored a large chunk of Bulmer's negatives, had unfortunately lost them when it moved out of Wardour Street in 1988.

Rowan Bulmer dancing the Twist, Eel Pie Island, 1962

In 2011, Bulmer's daughter Tahita (who is a lead singer in indie band New Young Pony Club) has found a large box of old prints that her father left in UK after moving to South of France year earlier. Box contained unseen photos of Stones, Hendrix , The Who and other legendary musicians as well as fashion photos and various snapshots of Swinging London scene. According to Chris May, Bulmer seemed surprised that anyone would be interested in his story (or his photos).

And what a fascinating story it is (A classic case of right place, right time - Chris May). Bulmer was born in 1943 and grew up in Chiswick. At 16, he enrolled at Chelsea College of Art. Like many of his art school pals, Bulmer was a jazz and Rn'B enthusiast and quickly became a regular on Soho's beatnik/coffee bar scene. One of his favourite hang-out at that time was Duke Of York pub in York Alley, Soho. He remembers: The Duke Of York is probably where it all started. It was very important. Rod Stewart, Long John Baldry, they they all hung out there. everyone was drinking and smoking dope non-stop. Everyone was scoring and there was Benzidrine and heroin. I never got into drugs myself. I saw it wreck too many people and made a decision early on.  Around 1962, Bulmer started hanging out in the Ealing Club, Richmond's Station Hotel, Crawdaddy Club and Eel Pie Island - a places now considered a cradle of British Rn'B scene. He witnessed early gigs of The Pretty Things, The Downliners Sect, The Artwoods, Cyril Davies All Stars, Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated, Jimmy Powell and The Five Dimensions (featuring Rod Stewart), The Tridents (Jeff Beck's first band). He witnessed Eric Clapton, Peter Green and Mick Fleetwood learning their trade before they hit superstardom. I first went to Eel Pie Island when I was 15 - he remembers. I became a pot boy, collecting empty glasses from the tables. It was a traditional jazz club and then they brought in Rn'B on Wednesday nights. I loved it all.  

Keth Moon photographed by Rowan Bulmer

Around that time, Bulmer became a photographer. All these musicians I knew started to need photographs, and I thought, 'I can do that'. And because they were my friends, I took a lot of shots just for myself. Among his numerous musician friends were The Rolling Stones whom he met through Giorgio Gomelsky - owner of Crawdaddy Club and Stones' early manager, when he was shooting promotional film about The Stones in 1963. They were filming at station Hotel - Bulmer remembers - I was well known as a dancer and they were waiting for me to arrive before they started filming. The Stones were playing 'Pretty Thing' and the girl  I was dancing with happened to be Brian Jones' girlfriend Linda Lawrence. She later married Donovan, hence the song 'Linda'. Anyway, I went to a work-in-progress screening at the Intrepid Fox pub on Wardour Street and afterwards I was chatting to Giorgio and he realised that I knew everyone. He was worried that he would get troublemakers at the Crawdaddy and he asked if I would work with him and keep an eye out for these characters. So I stopped going to Eel Pie so often and I was with Giorgio. This was when I got to know the Stones well.

Mick Jagger photographed by Rowan Bulmer in 1967

Bulmer was very close to Brian Jones - at one point they even considered moving in together. Bulmer says: We went flat hunting together a lot. We looked at lots of places, but somehow it didn't happen. Some people didn't like Brian, but I did. He was generous and he was really passionate about the blues. Evidently, Bulmer was less impressed by Andrew Loog Oldham - a young manager, who snatched The Stones from Giorgio Gomelsky. He was alright. A bit arrogant. I didn't really know him before he took over the Stones. There were a lot of people trying to get the Stones at that time. I was surprised when he got them.

By 1964, Rowan Bulmer was approached by the producers of new TV programme called Ready Steady Go!. He became an official photographer for this soon-to-be-cult Mod show. His other role in RSG! was finding new hot bands for the show - perfect for somebody with his connections and position on the scene.

Roll of film Bulmer shot at RSG! around 1965 - if you clack on it you can see Cathy McGowan and some soul band - anybody knows who they are?

Around that time Bulmer also became an official photographer at the Marquee Club, where he shot pretty much anybody who was anybody in the 1960's London. Unfortunately, his decision of storing his negatives at the club proved disastrous.

Ronnie Wood, Chris Barber and Jeff Beck at the Marquee, 1967

Bulmer also took a lot of photos at The Speakeasy Club.

Jimi Hendrix Experience at The Speakeasy, 1967

Drag artist at The Speakeasy, 1967

Eric Clapton onstage with Cream, National Jazz and Blues Festival, Windsor, 1966

Mods, National Jazz and Blues Festival, Windsor, 1966

Geno Washington, 1965

From 1964 onwards, Bulmer also worked as a fashion photographer.

Fashion shots featuring model Wendy Richards, circa 1965

When Barbara Hulanicki opened Biba, she hired Rowan Bulmer to do the advertising campaign.

Photoshoot for Biba, Kensington Church Street, 1966

Fashion shoot at Yellow Submarine club, London, 1966. I don't know who the designer was but the clothes look amazing. I wish we could see a better quality version..

Same goes for this menswear ad from around 1966

London Mod/Psych band The Syn (their line-up included Chris Squire - future member of Yes) modelling newest Carnaby Clobber outside Marquee Club, 1967

Immaculately-looking Rod Stewart with female friends, 1967 ( I wonder where this photo was taken. I can see some David Bailey prints in the background...)

Rowan Bulmer continued working as a photographer in London in the 1970's. In 1980's, he moved to Ilkley,Yorkshire. He created large-scale sculptures on the Yorshire Moors. Around that time he also had his own art exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Art in London. In 1984, Bulmer, passionate anti- Thacherite, joined a picket lines during miners' strike (I've always been on the Left - he says. My parents were Tory councillors; it's a reaction to that).

In the 1990's Bulmer returned to London. He opened his own studio on King's Road in Chelsea, where he worked until his retirement in 2010. Today, he lives in Dordogne in southwest France.

I don't know how much is left from his 1960's work, but I sure hope to see more. Rowan Bulmer doesn't seem interested in 'cashing-up', but the reasons for restoring and publishing the remains of his 1960's work do not have to be financial. Contrary to what he might think, there is a lot of interest in this, now legendary, era.

All the photos and quotations come from Chris May's article in Jocks & Nerds magazine, Volume 1 Issue 7, p 48-57.

The Sixties In Poland - Part One

Perhaps it's because of Easter - a family holiday - but I feel it may be the right time to do a post devoted to a country  in which I was born - Poland. Or maybe I'm getting temporarily bored with the stuff I usually write about. Either way, I think a little change may be refreshing.

Music, fashion and culture of Swinging Sixties Britain has been my biggest passion since my mid-teens.But I often wondered what did that decade look like in Poland. My parents couldn't be of much help there - in 1970 they were both still in their early teens, too young to remember anything significant (and by that I mean what they were wearing or what music were they into). What they do remember, is that the reality generally was rather dull and gray.

Anyway, in the last year or so, thanks to the miracle of Internet, I  have discovered - much to my surprise - that Poland actually had a pretty vibrant Rock n' roll/Beat/Garage/Psych scene, especially from 1965 onwards (not that I've ever heard of any of those bands when I actually lived in Poland). In the recent issue of Shindig! magazine, there was a great article on the subject, although I did not entirely agree with the choice of bands covered. So here I gonna do it my own way. Of course, I have advantage in the fact that I can actuallyl understand Polish language (I am not so confident about speaking, though. I haven't had conversation in Polish for several years) which allows me the full appreciation of this stuff. But, to those who are regular readers of this blog, I can guarantee that once you get past unpronounceable band names and strangely sounding lyrics, there is a great music there to be enjoyed. So let me take a break from my usual ramblings about Swinging Sixties London, to see what the sixties were like on the wrong side of the iron curtain.

For the young music fans in 1960's Poland, the biggest problem was a limited availability of Western records. Although The Beatles, Stones, etc. were as popular in Poland as anywhere else in Europe, their records were not being sold in record shops. The singles were largely available on so-called 'music-postards' (a sort of floppy rectangular picture disc), but it took a lot of effort to find albums. Usually black market was your best bet. It also helped if you, or somebody you knew had family or friends abroad.

Live performances of Western artists were also limited. I am not sure whether it was a case of needing a permission from authorities, or a case of bands not being that bothered about playing Poland, or a little bit of both. The fact is, some of the big English bands of the 1960's did make it to Poland  - In 1965 and 1966 The Hollies, The Animals and even London Mod/Psych heroes The Artwoods  all successfully toured there.

Article (NME? Melody Maker?) about The Artwoods' communication problems in Poland, 1966 (via Punks In Parkas)

Then, in 1967, a miracle happened. On 13th of April The Rolling Stones came to play one-off gig in Warsaw. It was their only ever gig behind iron curtain (although they did returned to Poland twice after the curtain fell down). In Poland, this gig has a legend of its own. Anybody who lived in Warsaw at the time and was age between 12 - 30, claims to have been at that gig. Unfortunately, the capacity of the venue was only about 3000, so a lot of people did not manage to get a ticket. They showed up on the night anyway, just to be in the proximity of their idols, and caused a riot outside Warsaw's Kongresowa Hall.

A brief footage of that gig from Polish news report. The newsreader says something like: Thousands of fans gathered outside Kongresowa Hall to see band The Rolling Stones. There wasn't enough tickets for everybody. Those lucky enough to get a ticket couldn't hear anything anyway. But it doesn't matter, because this a kind of gig you experience, rather than listen to. 

To a Polish audience The Stones - at the time in the middle of their psychedelic phase - seemed exotic, to say the least. The Stones themselves also experienced a little bit of cultural shock. This is how Bill Wyman remembers that gig: Warsaw was depressingly gray and dismal. On our drive to the best hotel in town, we noticed that the streets seemed strangely quiet with very little traffic and pedestrians.After checking in, I found my room to be triangular with a huge circular concrete pillar in the centre of the room.(...) Everybody was in and out of each other's rooms to see who had the best one - none of them were very good.(...) There were large crowds of kids in front of our hotel as we left, held back by the police. They were chanting: Long Live The Stones! (...) Once inside (the concert venue), we found that the tickets for our show had not been put on sale. They were given to loyal party members. This meant all the real fans were outside, unable to get tickets, but the audience seemed to get into it as we went along. Towards the end of our set they began chanting 'Icantgetno, Icantgetno'. It took a while for us to realise that they wanted 'Satisfaction'. (Bill Wyman, Rolling With The Stones, Dorling Kindersley, 2002, p 270).

Bill Wyman was wrong, though. Although some tickets were indeed given to party members, they were definitely put on general sale as well. They were expensive and got snapped up quickly, but quite a few 'true fans' did get to see The Stones (and the footage above seems to confirm it).

Interesting thing about that gig was that during the soundcheck, it turned out that Stones' instruments couldn't be connected to Polish electricity (something to do with a different voltage, apparently) So during the concert The Rolling Stones were using guitars and amps which belonged to a support act - a Polish beat  group called Niebiesko-Czarni.

Brian Jones and members of Niebiesko-Czarni, 13.04.1967

Niebiesko-Czarni (The Black n' Blue's) were one of the first and most important Polish groups of the 1960's. They formed in 1962 around guitarist/lead singer Wojtek Korda and initially they played various forms of Twist and Rock n' Roll. In the mid-1960's they were joined by a femle lead singer Ada Rusowicz, and their career really took off.

Niebiesko-Czarni performing on Polish TV in 1966 

Onstage, Niebiesko-Czarni wore blue turtlenecks and black trousers - hence their name. They had a string of successful singles, and they recorded two albums between 1965 and 1967. Then, just like the groups in Western Europe, Niebiesko-Czarni 'went psychedelic'. Blue turtlenecks were replaced by beads and kaftans.

 Niebiesko-Czarni, 1968

  Ada Rusowicz

Cover of the album Twarze ('The Faces') by Niebiesko-Czarni, 1968.

Their sound, as well as their look became more interesting. They recorded two psychedelic-tinged albums - Twarze in 1968 and Mamy Dla Was Kwiaty ('We've Got Flowers For You'   - with a great cover which you can see at the top of the post) in 1969.I haven't heard any of the those albums in their entirety, but if the title track of the second one is anything to go by, it must be pretty good. Very influenced by what was going on in England at the time, especially S.F. Sorrow by The Pretty Things.

The revolving-door line-up changes of Niebiesko-Czarni made them almost 'a school for future pop stars'. Quite a few ex-members of this band became went on to bigger things. One of them was guitarist/lead singer Krzysztof Klenczon who quit in 1965 and took over vocals in a band called Czerwone Gitary ('The Red Guitars' - and no, it was not a reference to a political situation of Poland). If there is any band that deserves a title of 'Polish Beatles', it's Czerwone Gitary. And it's not just a scale of their popularity. Musically they were very, very heavily influenced by the Fab Four. But even if they were copyists, they were good copyists.Some Poles like to claim that if The Red Guitars lived in England and sang the same songs in English, they would have been as big as The Beatles. That's a bit of a stretch - they weren't that good - but they certainly would have given The Hollies or The Zombies a run for their money.

Here's Czerwone Gitary doing one of their biggest hits - 'Nie Zadzieraj Nosa' (a Polish idiom meaning as much as 'don't be so stuck-up') - a song from 1968 with a very triumphant chorus in the style of 'She Loves You' or 'Twist and Shout'. They were clearly very uncomfortable having to mime to their song on the TV , which shows through their exaggerated dance movements...

Here's another one - a nice ballad titled 'Historia Jednej Znajomosci' ('A Story of a Brief Aquintanship'). There is something about that song that really catches both, teenage blues and gray Polish reality.

That's just two of their many successful singles. In the 1960's every country tried to produce 'their own Beatles'. Czerwone Gitary were one of the few European bands that for a brief period almost managed to match the efforts of the Fab Four. They remained popular throughout the 1970's although their leader Krzysztof Klenczon left in 1972. He moved to USA, where sadly, he died in a car accident in early 1980's.

 Now, on to my favorite part - Freakbeat and Garage. I'll start with a band called Chocholy ('The Hollows') doing an aggressive Rhythm n' Blues number titled 'Amor A Kysz' (Stay Away, Cupid!) which wouldn't sound out of place in London's Marquee club. (song from 1965)

Chocholy were a popular R n'B group. When their lead singer Wojciech Gassowski quit in 1967, they changed name to Akwarele ('The Watercolours') and became a backing band for a popular Prog-rocker Czeslaw Niemen (a former member of Niebiesko-Czarni).

Here's another great track - Stale To Samo ('Always The Same') by appropriately named Dzikusy (The Wild-Ones). Their Farfisa-led Freakbeat wasn't million miles away from what teenagers across America were doing around the same time (1966).I couldn't paste it in here, so just click on the link.

Another great Polish band from that time that crossed into Freakbeat territory were Polanie ('The Polans' - named after medieval tribe - the fore-fathers of Poles). They were heavily inspired by aggresive, organ-led R n' B of The Animals. One of their best tracks was 'Nie Zawroce' (I Won't Turn Back') which combined R n'B with heavy soul.

 

  Polanie covered a lot of  British Mod/Psych songs like 'Cool Jerk' by The Creation or 'Can You Hear Me?' by The Artwoods. Here's their absolutely insane version of Animals' 'I'm Crying'.

 When The Animals toured Poland in 1966, Polanie were a support act. Reportedly, Eric Burdon was very impressed with the energy of their live performances, and he invited Polanie To Britain to tour with The Animals. These plans came to nothing when Polanie couldn't get UK visas. Still, they were one of the few Polish bands which toured Western Europe - France and West Germany (where they supported The Animals again).

In the last few years some few compilations of Polish Beat/Garage/Psyche were released in Britain - two volumes of Wrenchin' The Wires  and Working Class Devils (rubbish title, if you ask me..). They contain some great gems from the Polish 60's beat scene.

           More details at Paradise Of Garage Comps

Now I am gonna move into late-60's Hippie territory. In Poland, the undisputed leaders in that field was a band called Breakout.The band was led by Tadeusz Nalepa, who was thought to be the greatest blues/rock guitarist  in Poland. They started in a mid-1960's as a beat combo called Blackout, changing their name to Breakout after they were joined by a female lead singer Mira Kubasinska. Their music was a mix of heavy blues and psyche with progressive undertones and pop sensibility. Think Hendrix jamming with Jefferson Airplane or a much heavier version of Shocking Blue..

Here's Breakout doing their 1969 hit 'Poszlabym Za Toba' (I Would Follow You) 

  

Another good song by Breakout  was called 'Gdybys Kochal, Hej!' ('If You Only Loved Me, Hey!'). I don't know whether Tadeusz Nalepa and Mira Kubasinska were a couple, but in this video they they seem like they have a Sonny Bono/Cher thing going on. Bassist clearly has a lot of fun hiding behind the tree. The main riff clearly owes a lot to Hendrix's version of 'Hey Joe'.

Breakout continued to record great music after the departure of Mira Kubasinska in 1971. That year, they released an album, unimaginatively titled Blues. It is a great heavy blues-rock album full of fiery guitar solos complemented by Hammond organ and soulful vocals of Tadeusz Nalepa. One of the best songs on the album was called  'Pomaluj Moje Sny' ('Paint My Dreams').

Since I crossed into early 1970's, I want to mention two other important Polish bands from that period. First one is a progressive rock band called Klan. Their 1971 album 'Mrowisko' ('The Hive') is a mix of psychedelic heavy rock and jazz. It resembles early stuff of The Soft Machine or Colosseum, but it's much less self-indulgent. I'm not sure wheter the band got much recognition for it, as they seem to be pretty obscure even in Poland, which is a shame, because 'Mrowisko' is one of the best Polish records of the time.

Cover of 'Mrowisko' by Klan, 1971 (listen to the album here)

Another Polish  band from that time worth mentioning was Nurt ('The Stream'). Their only album, released in 1972, was also a mix of Heavy Psyche, Prog and Jazz, but with a lot of emphasis on 'Heavy'. I was pretty blown away by virtuoso musicianship of Nurt (especially their guitarist). Unlike a lot of Prog albums from early 1970's, this one avoids a trap of being overly self-indulgent or boring.

This is a song called 'Pisze Kreda Po Asfalcie'  ('I Write On Asphalth With a Chalk') from Nurt's self-titled 1972 album..

     

I'll end with something from the mid-Sixties..

This charming lady is a pop singer Helena Majdaniec. She was sort of a Polish Cilla Black or Sandie Shaw. After having a string of incredibly twee pop hits in Poland, she emigrated to France, where she continued her musical career, apparently achieving considerable popularity in continental Europe. Here's a footage of her performing a song in English on German TV in 1966. The audio is pretty bad and the song is not particularly good, but she and her French backing band, as well as he audience look absolutely amazing..

Make no mistake, the life in Socialist Poland in the 1960's was far from perfect. But that didn't stop the youth of that country from producing their own interesting music or, as I intend to show in part two of my 'Polish Special' , films and fashion icons.

10 Worst Films Of The 1960's

 I am not exactly what you'd call a 'movie buff', but I do love discovering great obscure flicks from 1960's. The genres I am particularly obsessive about are: early 60's British 'Kitchen Sink' dramas, 'Swinging London' films and psychedelic weirdness from both, Europe and America. It is a sheer joy to discover long-lost 'Kitchen-Sink' masterpieces like Term Of Trial (1962) with Laurence Olivier or The Party's Over (1963) with Oliver Reed, interesting art-house B-movies like Jess Franco's Venus In Furs (1970), or Swinging London madness of Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush (1967). But every now and then, you inevitably get burned - you discover an absolute dud. In this day and age, when no film is really 'lost' anymore, flops and failures of bygone eras are re-emerging on DVD. What's worse, some of them undeservedly earn status of 'lost classics'. Here, I have compiled a little list of films to avoid - I have wasted a lot of time watching them and I warn you not to waste yours. Nearly all of them flopped at the time of the cinematic release, but now are easily accessible on DVD or YouTube .  Tempted by a good cast, good director, cool poster (or all of it combined) you may feel like you want to see some of them. Well,believe me, you don't. I tried to focus on films which are absolutely unwatchable - not only they are badly written or/and actors are miscast, but there is nothing else to hold your attention - no amazing sets, costumes,music, nudity or erotic scenes ( Just to note - I tried to avoid blatant B-flicks, therefore no Roger Corman, Russ Meyer, Hammer films etc.). So, I present you 10 lost 60's classics that should have remained lost....




10. PETULIA (1968)

Director: Richard Lester
Cast: Julie Christie, George C. Scott, Richard Chamberlain

In 1968, American expatriate Richard Lester was one of the 'hottest' directors in Britain. Having made A Hard Day's Night (1964) and Help! (1965) with The Beatles, as well as brilliant Swinging London comedy The Knack...And How To Get It? (1965) and John Lennon vehicle How I Won The War (1967), Lester was now heading back to his homeland to conquer Hollywood. Julie Christie , after her appearance in David Lean's epic Doctor Zhivago and her Oscar-winning role in Darling (1965) was also at the height of her fame.It seemed like a match made in heaven - pairing up Richard Lester with Julie Christie should have resulted in one of the funniest comedies of 1960's. Instead, it resulted in this strangely lucklustre drama about abused housewife (Christie) who starts an affair with a divorced doctor (Scott). The film doesn't work, because Lester could not decide what kind of film he wanted to make. In Petulia, he abandoned his trademark absurd humour, perhaps wishing to move into more 'serious' territory'. But the film oscillates somewhere between comedy and drama, and as a result ends up being neither. It's not funny enough to be a comedy, and not serious enough to be a drama. It's just plain dull. Julie Christie had a flair for bringing out comical undertones in dramatic roles, which she showed so well in  Billy Liar (1963), fore-mentioned Darling and period drama Far From The Madding Crowd (1967) (all three films were directed by John Shlesinger), but we see none of it in Petulia. She tries too hard to make her character kooky (I hate that word) and ends up being just plain annoying.Also, what is going on with her hair!? Is it a wig? It looks terrible....
The film has a small bonus in a form of performances from Grateful Dead and Janis Joplin. Find it on YouTube, but don't bother with a rest of Petulia. That poster looks retty cool, though. It's such a shame that the scene depicted in it doesn't actually occur in the film...



9. CASINO ROYALE (1967)

Director(s): Val Guest, Ken Hughes, John Huston, Joseph McGrath, Robert Parrish
Cast: Peter Sellers, David Niven, Ursula Andress, Orson Welles, Woody Allen, Deborah Kerr, Jean-Paul Belmondo

The rights to this James Bond novel were sold in late fifties, before Albert Broccolli and Harry Saltzman bought the rest wholesale from Ian Fleming. In 1967, the owner, Charles K. Feldman, not wanting to compete with 'proper' versions of Bond, decided to film it as a pastiche and recruited a cast of A-list stars such as David Niven, Peter Sellers, Ursula Andress, Orson Welles and young Woody Allen. On paper it sounded like a brilliant idea. So what went wrong?

 Well, the answer is Peter Sellers. Reportedly he was very difficult on the set, showing up and disappearing whenever he felt like it, and constantly disrupting the filming with various shenanigans. Four directors, including legendary John Huston, walked out of the project, unable to work with him. Orson Welles hated Sellers so much, that he refused to be in the same room as him, even during shooting of the scenes in which they were together, which made a shooting difficult, to put it mildly. Not surprisingly the result was a total chaos. Casino Royale doesn't have anything even remotely resembling a coherent plot. Some men, all of them claiming to be James Bond, chase some nice looking ladies around, but that's about it. It is very hard to sit through more than fifteen minutes of this mess. My only question is: How can a film (or even a mess) with Peter Sellers and Woody Allen in it  - possibly the greatest comics of all time - be this unfunny?

(As all of the Bond fans surely know, the proper version of Casion Royale was filmed in 2006)       





8. GIRL ON A MOTORCYCLE (1968)

Director: Jack Cardiff
Cast: Marianne Faithfull, Alain Delon

The thought of Marianne Faithfull wearing a leather jumpsuit and nothing underneath sounds quite appealing, doesn't it? Well,my dear male reader, you gonna have to rely on your imagination to picture it, because although this film promises a lot, it delivers very little -  it's nowhere near as erotic as you might think. If it's nude Marianne Faithfull you're after, then I must disappoint you. You can see about as much of her skin on this poster as throughout the whole film. It is a dull story of  two pretty dull people having an affair. I think one of them is married, but I can't remember which one. In fact, I am struggling to remember anything about this film whatsoever, even though I saw it twice. Alain Delon gives probably the worst performance of his career. What was he doing in this film anyhow? I can understand why Marianne Faithfull took the role, but why did he?
Anyway, I am gonna save you an hour an half of utter boredom - she dies in a motorcycle crash at the end. Now you really don't have a reason to watch it.

I've noticed that a lot of people get my blog after typing into google 'Marianne Faithfull nude'. I have no idea why. But since there's a demand, there should be a supply..

Her brief cameo in I'll Never Forget What' isname (1967), a comedy by Michael Winner with Oliver Reed. As naked as she ever got in any film....Enjoy!



7. VALLEY OF THE DOLLS (1967)

 

 
Director: Mark Robson
Cast: Sharon Tate, Patty Duke, Barbara Parkins, Lee Grant

Very poorly adapted from a bestselling novel by Jacqueline Susan, Valley Of The Dolls is a story of three young actresses and their adventures in harsh and unforgiving world of show business. I say 'poorly adapted' because the script tries to squeeze too much action from the novel into the film , which as a result is way too long. Film focuses on characters of Anne (Barbara Parkins) and Neely (Patty Duke), but in a way which doesn't really reveal anything about them as characters. They both seem so fake and phoney that it is impossible for a viewer to relate to them, or  believe in existence of  people like them in real life. The only interesting character, Jennifer (Sharon Tate)  - a doomed starlet who marries mortally ill singer, and takes roles in porn movies to pay for her husband's health care - is kept in the background. Also, the passing of time in the film is not indicated in any way. The story is presumably spread through several years, but not only the characters don't age, but the reality around them - the cars, the costumes does not change. A simple credit at the bottom of the screen saying '2 years later' would definitely help in some of the scenes.

If you're hoping for a '60's vibe' in this film, you will be disappointed - there isn't any. Although made in 1967, Valley Of the Dolls feels like a film made in early 1950's.Everything in it screams of 1950's - beginning with costumes and sets, through 'safe' handling of a controversial subject ('dolls' was a slang word for amphetamine pills abused by all three characters) to characters' hopes and aspirations; the way they talk and act, etc. Not to mention the suited crooners and the general old-fashion-musical feel.  Even in 1967, this film must have looked like a relic of a bygone era. Today it just looks dated beyond pardon. The only reason anybody ever watches it, is the rare appearance of Sharon Tate - at the time wife of Roman Polanski, and  future  victim of a murder from hands of Charles Manson's Family. She reportedly hated the book, the film and her own appearance in it. It's hard to blame her.


6. MODESTY BLAISE (1966)

Director: Joseph Losey
Cast: Dirk Bogarde, Monica Vitti, Terence Stamp

With this cast and director, this should have been one of the greatest British films of the 1960's. Previous collaboration of Losey and Bogarde resulted in my all-time favorite The Servant (1963) - a criminally underrated masterpiece. Monica Vitti was a star of Michelangelo Antonioni's Italian films and Terence Stamp - a 'Swinging London' bachelor was also a star on the rise, especially after the role in critically acclaimed The Collector (1965). So why on earth did any of them agree to appear in this dismal adaptation of mediocre spy novel? Neither the director, nor the actors really 'felt' the genre, and unfortunately it shows. The most uncomfortable one was Bogarde as a pantomime villain in a ridiculous blond wig. Monica Vitti  spoke very little English at the time, and some of her lines sound like they were learn phonetically. Terence Stamp gives possibly the most forgettable performance of his career. The filming was apparently constantly disrupted by arguments between Losey and Vitti. Dirk Bogarde  was not getting on with his Italian co-star, either. He remarked (years later): I fell in love with every woman I ever worked with. Except for Monica Vitti. The resulting film was embarrassingly bad. In a first fifteen minutes, so many characters are introduced , and so little about their motives is revealed, that you simply lose track of what is going on. Soon after, you lose interest. This film doesn't even have that campy quality which makes Barbarella or Danger: Diabolik so appealing.

Modesty Blaise  flopped and was disowned by anybody who had anything to do with it. Joseph Losey soon redeemed himself with brilliant The Accident (1967) which also starred Dirk Bogarde. Monica Vitti returned to Italy where she remained a big star. But Modesty Blaise had a destructive effect on Terence Stamp's career - not only did he turn down the role in Alfie to star in Losey's film, but Modesty Blaise also deprived him of the leading role in Blow-Up. He was Antonioni's original choice for the role, but Italian director was obsessively jealous of his muse Monica Vitti  and he constantly suspected her and Stamp of having an affair (something Stamp always denied). Few weeks before shooting  Blow-Up, Antonioni replaced Stamp with then-unknown David Hemmings. Terence Stamp is bitter about it to this day.



5. PRIVILEGE (1967)

Director: Peter Watkins
Cast: Jean Shrimpton, Paul Jones

The idea - just the idea, mind you - sounds vaguely interesting. A pop idol is used by his evil, manipulative managers to spread destructive message to the adoring fans. It ceases to sound interesting and start sounding ridiculous when you find out, that the message is not consumerism or permissiveness but....Christianity.
Steven Shorter (Paul Jones) is a hysterically adored pop star (imagine Lennon, Jagger and Dylan rolled into one). Lonely at the top and sent halfway to bedlam by his hectic touring schedule, Steven  meets a young painter (Jean Shrimpton) and the two begin an affair. At the same time, unbeknownst to Steven, his managers team up with a sinister religious dignitaries, who worried about growing godlessness among youth, decide to re-invent Steven Shorter as born-again Christian in hope of  converting the masses.

What did not work here was a pair of film's main stars. Casting musicians and models  in films can bring interesting results  (Mick Jagger in Performance or Twiggy in Ken Russell's 1920's extravaganza Boyfriend (1972)). Here, it failed miserably. The acting skills of Paul Jones and Jean Shrimpton are almost non-existent. Jones, who in real life was a lead singer of Mod/Rn'B hit-makers Manfred Mann, is particularly irritating. He wants to make the character of Steven  'troubled' and 'mysterious', bu instead he comes across as 'arrogant' and 'bored', leaving viewer wondering what the hell all these screaming teenagers see in him. His godawful stage act, worthy more of a first-year Perfoming Arts student rather than a biggest star in the world, only adds to that impression. Even worse is Jean Shrimpton - wooden to the point of comical and almost inaudible.

Paul Jones and Jean Shrimpton during filming of Privilege. Shrimpton had this exact facial expression throughout he whole film.

Terence Stamp, who was Jean Shrimpton's boyfriend at the time, tried to talk her out of taking the role in Privilege, sensing the lack of her acting skills. Shrimpton got so offended, that she dumped him (that sent Stamp in a downward spiral of depression, which some time later resulted in him quitting acting for a few years).

The silliness of the plot  in Privilege resulted in some truly cringeworthy scenes - like the one where the whole stadium shouts 'We will conform!' - did director Peter Watkins really thought that low of young people?  The rise of counterculture and anti-war protests in 1967, made Privilege irrelevant practically on the day of its release.Slated by the critics for a half-baked concept and bad acting, and ignored by the public, Privilege disappeared, not to be seen for another 43 years. Unfortunately, in 2010, BFI  remastered and released this dud on DVD. Don't buy it, unless you run acting class and want to show your students what 'bad acting' means...

4. TWO-LANE BLACKTOP (1971)

Director: Monte Hellman
Cast: James Taylor, Dennis Wilson, Warren Oates

 Made in 1971, so technically not a sixties film, but it certainly tried to captured he spirit of the decade just gone. Some film aficionados might try to convince you that this film is 'like Easy Rider or Vanishing Point, but cooler'. It's a spot-on description, but only if  by 'cooler' they mean 'a mediocre rip-off and blatant attempt to cash-in'.
Film tells a story (if you can call it that) of a racing driver (James Taylor) and his mechanic (Dennis Wilson). They pick up a hitchhiker (Laurie Bird). Not much happens and not much is said. The girl mostly looks bored while driver and mechanic talk about cars. They meet another racing driver (Warren Oates) who challenges them to the cross country race to Washington. To be honest, I've only seen it once, about five years ago, and all I remember was a general feeling of boredom, and a mental note to myself not to ever give it another chance (which means I must have really hated it)
It's another example of the film where casting musicians did not work out. James Taylor's acting is about as dull as his songs. Dennis Wilson - The Beach Boys' drummer - had a movie star good looks, not quite matched by his acting ability.

If you're into Easy Rider vibe, there are some other great films from 60's/early 70's era. If you like films about American hippie Counterculture, I recommend The Strawberry Statement (1969) or Getting Straight (1970) or even Antonioni's Zabriskie Point (1970, a failure, yes, but at least an interesting one). If it's pure road cinema you're after I recommend almost forgotten Scarecrow (1973) with Al Pacino and Gene Hackman. Just don't waste your time on Two-Lane Blacktop.  

 



3. CANDY (1968)

Director: Christian Marquand
Cast: Richard Burton, Marlon Brando, James Coburn, Walter Matthau, Eva Aulin, Ringo Starr, Charles Aznavour


Terry Southern.....at his best he co-wrote a script of Dr. Strangelove with Kubrick and helped Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper to write Easy Rider. At his worst he was responsible for Candy. The film was based of Southern's 1958 novel (co-written with Mason Hoffenberg) which in turn, was very, very loosely based on Voltaire's Candide.
Film is a story of  Candy (Eva Aulin) and her erotic journey through modern America. During that journey she meets an eccentric writer (Richard Burton), insane general (Walter Matthau) , hapless Mexican gardener (Ringo Starr), sinister surgeon (James Coburn) and suspicious Guru (Marlon Brando). We don't know why the journey is happening, where  is she going, and to be honest we don't know what is going on most of he time. The film was supposed to be a satire on something, presumably contemporary America, but frankly, even a 10 year old child would be capable of wittier observations than the ones made by the film. Eva Aulin - former Teen Miss Sweden, in a film often loses parts of her outfit -  at tines her entire outfit  - but unfortunetely, even that doesn't make the film any more watchable.

  

Neither do all the star cameos. Most of them were friends of Terry Southern or Christian Marquand  who charged no fee or a reduced fee. Neither one of them will count Candy as their best moment.The film of course flopped. Not that Terry Southern learned a lesson. Year later, in 1969, he was involved another film based on his script and  made  in very similar vein - The Magic Christian with Ringo and Peter Sellers (admittedly slightly more watchable than Candy).

Eva Aulin and Ringo Starr at the premiere of Candy, 1968

2. 200 MOTELS (1970)

Director: Frank Zappa

Cast: Ringo Starr, Keith Moon, Pamela Des Barres

OK, let me put it straight: this is not a film! It's a CCTV footage! Frank Zappa, who directed this thing, was one of the finest musicians of his generation, but should have not been let anywhere near a camera. I say 'directed' but it's hard to see signs of any direction. He might have as well left a rolling camera at the Hot Rats launch party (actually, no - that makes it sound almost watchable). Normally you could blame drugs, but Frank Zappa, apparently wasn't doing them at all.There's no excuse for this. Don't get me wrong - I am all for psychedelic nonsense. I love Magical Mystery Tour or The Monkees' Head. But this!!? This is just a waste of celluloid tape. There is no plot, there aren't even any characters, just a bunch of people shouting over each other - among them Ringo in a ridiculous wig, looking very confused , and the Who's drummer Keith Moon. There is a chance that you might have heard of 200 Motels through I'm With The Band - an autobiography of Pamela Des Barres - late 60's/early 70's LA groupie queen. She talks about the film quite extensively. I am not sure why she bothered to mention it at all - especially since her own appearance lasts about fifteen seconds during which she says one line (dressed as a Nazi dominatrix). How could this rubbish ever get a cinematic release, I will never now. And why did anybody bother to release it on DVD?

1.SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL (A.K.A. ONE PLUS ONE) (1968)

Director: Jean-Luc Godard

Cast: The Rolling Stones

In the words of Dante Alighieri, Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.....
Now, I would lie if I said I was a fan of Jean-Luc Godard. There is so much I hate about his films, that I don't even know where to start... His annoying male protagonists, who always act like prepubescent boys. His adolescent views on love and sex. His tendency of bombarding a viewer with meaningless political slogans..His at best childish grasp of politics, especially Socialism and Communism...I could go on and on. OK, so Breathless (1959) is an important film. Some of his early 1960's movies are watchable, mostly thank to the sheer physical beauty of his leading ladies. After all, who can resist the charms of Anna Karina in Vivre Sa Vie (1961), Brigitte Bardot in Le Mepris (1963) or Chantal Goya in Masculin Feminin (1964)? But, when deprived of distraction in form of a beautiful actress, his films are inevitably exposed for the pretentious, dull duds that they are. First sign of that was Weekend (1967) - film so irrepressibly awful and boring, that they should screen it to convicted criminals as a punishment. You'd think hat making a worse film was hysically not possible. Unfortunately it was.....

Godard had quite a lot of hopes connected with One Plus One. Initially, he wanted to recruit The Beatles (whom he always criticised for not being political enough). He had a meeting with John Lennon in London, during which he refused to reveal absolutely anything about the project. Suspicious Lennon turned him down. Mick Jagger, on the other hand, jumped into opportunity - he always wanted to work in movies (that was before Performance). The scenes with The Rolling Stones shot at Olympic Studios are nothing more than a simple documentary - Stones work on.....That's right, 'Sympathy For The Devil'. We can see a development of the song from a slow, acoustic ballad to its final form with bongos, and electric guitar. What we can also see is Brian Jones in a very bad condition - he seems completely detached from what is going on in the studio.

Brian Jones and Jean-Luc Godard, 1968

Although the scenes with The Stones are pretty dull, they are probably the best in the whole film. Other scenes include:  woman walking around  the forest and giving an interview about Socialsm. Iain Quarrier (known from Wonderwall, Fearless Vampire Killers and Cul-De-Sac; also the producer of One Plus One) walking in circles around newsagents reading Communist Manifesto, and Black Panthers on the car park somewhere in Battersea (and what would they be doing in Battersea?) reading Black Panther Manifesto, and shooting three women for no apparent reason. In other words, the usual boring, pretentious rubbish that Godard was known for.

Initially, Godard wanted to get rid of all the scenes with Stones, but producer Iain Quarrier disagreed. What's more, he demanded for  the title to be changed into Sympathy For The Devil (he knew that The Stones were the only thing in the film that would attract any audience). Two men got into a heated argument during which Godard called Quarrier a fascist.

Godard first unveiled this film during Cannes festival in 1968 which coincided with infamous May 68 riots. A passionate socialist, Godard, along with Francois  Truffaut and few other  Nouvelle Vague directors, demanded putting festival on hold to demonstrate solidarity with strikers in Paris. What's more, he wanted a complete nationalisation of French Cinema, which he felt should be under 'worker control'. He got into a heated argument with Roman Polanski who was there to present his hugely successful Rosemary's Baby. Polanski, a Polish expatriate, who unlike Godard or Truffaut actually experienced life under Communist regime was unimpressed. He rightly noted: People like Godard and Truffaut are like little kids playing at being revolutionaries. I've passed through this stage. I was raised in the country where these things happened seriously (Christopher Sandford, Polanski, p 159). Godard called Polanski a fascist and told him to 'fuck off to Hollywood' (He had an annoying habit of calling a fascist anybody who disagreed with him).
When Sympathy For The Devil was finally premiered , nobody was impressed. Apart from the Stones bits, which have a value as a documentary, the film deserves to be flushed down the toilet.  

So there it is. I think I made my case. If you think that I got something terribly wrong, do speak up. Any additions to the list are also welcome.


BIBLIOGRAPHY

Jurgen Muller, Movies of The 60's, Tashen, 2004
Peter Doggett, There's A Riot Going On, Cannongate, London, 2007
Peter Biskind, Easy Riders And Raging Bulls, Simon & Shuster, London, 1998
Christopher Sandford, Polanski, Century , London, 2007

The Real Blow-Up, BBC Documentary, 2002