I, Tom Lehrer, individually and as trustee of the Tom Lehrer Trust 2007, hereby grant the following permissions:
All copyrights to lyrics or music written or composed by me have been permanently and irrevocably relinquished, and therefore such songs are now in the public domain. All of my songs that have never been copyrighted, having been available for free for so long, are now also in the public domain. In other words, I have abandoned, surrendered and disclaimed all right, title and interest in and to my work and have injected any and all copyrights into the public domain. ...
NOTICE:
THIS WEBSITE WILL BE SHUT DOWN AT SOME DATE IN THE NOT TOO DISTANT FUTURE, SO IF YOU WANT TO DOWNLOAD ANYTHING, DON’T WAIT TOO LONG.
Unforgiven. Both a great modern western and reflecting on western movies. The end scene in the rain where Eastwood rides into the bleak little town to avenge Ned is spine chilling every time.
Fun fact: The actor who played Anthony in "It's a Good Life" is Billy Mumy. He was featured in three total episodes of The Twilight Zone and became a regular castmember on Lost in Space a couple years later. During the '70s, Mumy joined Barnes and Barnes, a musical duo best known for the song "Fish Heads," which was played all the time on the Dr. Demento show. And he returned to The Twilight Zone during its '80s iteration on the episode "It's Still a Good Life" where he played Anthony as a young adult.
There's also the Simpsons parody where Bart makes Krusty the Clown broadcast 24 hours a day, which now feels like a prophecy of what was going to happen to The Simpsons.
Plastic Ono Band as Lennon's Time Out Of Mind...wow, that was brilliant and right on the money! Lennon had lived a few lives from 1958 to 1970, so it's not surprising that he got there quicker than Dylan.
Greil, just popping in to say hey and (once again) how much I appreciate your work. Your TV writings from the past are hilarious, insightful... and so you. Love 'em! And I just saw "Once Upon A Time In The West" this winter and was riveted from minute one. The opening (20 minute?!) harmonica solo is the eeriest thing, had our cats absolutely freaking out like nothing they've heard before or since. P.S. Saw Gang Of Four and Sinners back-to-back, loved seeing the microwave get bashed and the Klan/vampires gunned down, thought of you...
I greatly appreciated the thoughtful response to What's Your Favorite Western? Like rock 'n roll and film noir, movie westerns are largely an American art form, but the exceptions, like Sergio Leone movies or British Invasion bands from the 60's, show some of the greatest examples of movies and music are a hybrid of American invention and non-American re-invention.
I like "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly," but any movie that tries to make a point about the futility of war by pointing to the *Civil War* is definitely a cartoon. In the '50s, the decade when filmmakers began to critically examine the genre, there were plenty of Westerns that were not cartoons but "serious" in the best sense of the word, humanist works examining the consequences of vengeance, machismo, and racism, along with the precariousness of justice in a frontier community.
Putting aside anything by Ford and Hawks, this period brought us "The Gunfighter" (1950, Henry King; Bob Dylan is a fan!), "Stars in My Crown" (1950, Jacques Tourneur), "Devil's Doorway" (1950, Anthony Mann), "The Naked Spur" (1953, Mann again), "Seven Men From Now" (1956, Budd Boetticher) "Man of the West" (1958, Mann), "The Bravados" (1958, King), "Gunman's Walk" (1958, Phil Karlson; newly restored!), and "The Hanging Tree" (1959, Delmer Daves). Next to these, some of the spaghetti westerns look flashy and nihilistic, while the 60s American ones seem overwrought and rehashed.
And the 1959 "Day of the Outlaw," directed by Andre de Toth and Robert Ryan's most insinuating Western. Moment to moment tension, you never know which way the story or the action is going to break. I saw it at the Telluride Film Festival when Alexander Payne was the guest director and programmed a series of favorite movies people were uniikely to know, and I've gone back to it again and again.
Great as always. You pretty much nailed it on ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, a movie that "unfolds," much to the modern viewer's dismay. Also, big thanks for MANSONOID!
Just to note, Farber wrote of Wayne's “hipster sense of how to sit in a chair leaned against the wall," not how to stand. It's my favorite line of film criticism. And my favorite Western is Hawks's Rio Bravo. But my favorite scenes are in Peckinpah. Also Mann & Boetticher belong in the conversation.
FYI for anyone who did not know. And always worth repeating:
https://tomlehrersongs.com
I, Tom Lehrer, individually and as trustee of the Tom Lehrer Trust 2007, hereby grant the following permissions:
All copyrights to lyrics or music written or composed by me have been permanently and irrevocably relinquished, and therefore such songs are now in the public domain. All of my songs that have never been copyrighted, having been available for free for so long, are now also in the public domain. In other words, I have abandoned, surrendered and disclaimed all right, title and interest in and to my work and have injected any and all copyrights into the public domain. ...
NOTICE:
THIS WEBSITE WILL BE SHUT DOWN AT SOME DATE IN THE NOT TOO DISTANT FUTURE, SO IF YOU WANT TO DOWNLOAD ANYTHING, DON’T WAIT TOO LONG.
Tom Lehrer
November 26, 2022
Unforgiven. Both a great modern western and reflecting on western movies. The end scene in the rain where Eastwood rides into the bleak little town to avenge Ned is spine chilling every time.
The scene with Clint and the kid talking on the hillside after the kid killed his first person. "Well I guess he had it comin'"
"We all have it comin' kid"
Yes! Also:
Little Bill: I don’t deserve to die like this. I was building a house.
Will: Deserve’s got nothin’ to do with it.
Fun fact: The actor who played Anthony in "It's a Good Life" is Billy Mumy. He was featured in three total episodes of The Twilight Zone and became a regular castmember on Lost in Space a couple years later. During the '70s, Mumy joined Barnes and Barnes, a musical duo best known for the song "Fish Heads," which was played all the time on the Dr. Demento show. And he returned to The Twilight Zone during its '80s iteration on the episode "It's Still a Good Life" where he played Anthony as a young adult.
If you think the "Twilight Zone" episode is haunting (which it surely is), check out Jerome Bixby's original short story. Almost unendurable. http://ciscohouston.com/docs/docs/greats/its_a_good_life.html
There's also the Simpsons parody where Bart makes Krusty the Clown broadcast 24 hours a day, which now feels like a prophecy of what was going to happen to The Simpsons.
They also did a good job with the story in the early 80s TZ film
Plastic Ono Band as Lennon's Time Out Of Mind...wow, that was brilliant and right on the money! Lennon had lived a few lives from 1958 to 1970, so it's not surprising that he got there quicker than Dylan.
Greil, just popping in to say hey and (once again) how much I appreciate your work. Your TV writings from the past are hilarious, insightful... and so you. Love 'em! And I just saw "Once Upon A Time In The West" this winter and was riveted from minute one. The opening (20 minute?!) harmonica solo is the eeriest thing, had our cats absolutely freaking out like nothing they've heard before or since. P.S. Saw Gang Of Four and Sinners back-to-back, loved seeing the microwave get bashed and the Klan/vampires gunned down, thought of you...
I greatly appreciated the thoughtful response to What's Your Favorite Western? Like rock 'n roll and film noir, movie westerns are largely an American art form, but the exceptions, like Sergio Leone movies or British Invasion bands from the 60's, show some of the greatest examples of movies and music are a hybrid of American invention and non-American re-invention.
Huh. I really liked Freedomland. Movie sucked though
I like "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly," but any movie that tries to make a point about the futility of war by pointing to the *Civil War* is definitely a cartoon. In the '50s, the decade when filmmakers began to critically examine the genre, there were plenty of Westerns that were not cartoons but "serious" in the best sense of the word, humanist works examining the consequences of vengeance, machismo, and racism, along with the precariousness of justice in a frontier community.
Putting aside anything by Ford and Hawks, this period brought us "The Gunfighter" (1950, Henry King; Bob Dylan is a fan!), "Stars in My Crown" (1950, Jacques Tourneur), "Devil's Doorway" (1950, Anthony Mann), "The Naked Spur" (1953, Mann again), "Seven Men From Now" (1956, Budd Boetticher) "Man of the West" (1958, Mann), "The Bravados" (1958, King), "Gunman's Walk" (1958, Phil Karlson; newly restored!), and "The Hanging Tree" (1959, Delmer Daves). Next to these, some of the spaghetti westerns look flashy and nihilistic, while the 60s American ones seem overwrought and rehashed.
And the 1959 "Day of the Outlaw," directed by Andre de Toth and Robert Ryan's most insinuating Western. Moment to moment tension, you never know which way the story or the action is going to break. I saw it at the Telluride Film Festival when Alexander Payne was the guest director and programmed a series of favorite movies people were uniikely to know, and I've gone back to it again and again.
"Bloodbrothers " was a good movie, and underrated. Gere was excellent but I loved Tony Lobianco...so intense and physical and crazy!
Great as always. You pretty much nailed it on ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, a movie that "unfolds," much to the modern viewer's dismay. Also, big thanks for MANSONOID!
Just to note, Farber wrote of Wayne's “hipster sense of how to sit in a chair leaned against the wall," not how to stand. It's my favorite line of film criticism. And my favorite Western is Hawks's Rio Bravo. But my favorite scenes are in Peckinpah. Also Mann & Boetticher belong in the conversation.
Thanks for the correction. The real thing is so much more on point, and more poetic, than my botch.