The movie review is further down. First, in the good news/bad news of the week, one of my short stories--a special favorite of one of my Skirmish Team beta readers--was rejected by an editor. That's the bad news. A different story, was accepted to an anthology, and I've returned the signed contract. That's good news. Another story has been tentatively accepted, depending on whether the editor is able to group it coherently with the others under consideration for that anthology. That's also good news, and I really enjoyed writing that particular story as I did a mash-up of the requested theme with something else that was on my mind. I think that leaves one other story still under consideration, but I think it's actually a stronger tale than the story that was already accepted--of course, there are always lots of variables and what other stories have been submitted to a particular publication will affect the decisions.
In other news, I did battle with car dealers this week--but that's in the newsletter--and the new ground speeder seems to please the one most intimately connected with the vehicle.
I know I saw a black and white movie recently that I wanted to discuss, but I can't seem to remember what it was. Therefore, I'll talk about the movie I do remember--sort of.
I remember watching a documentary about the Monkees several months ago and noted that they had made a movie. Having never seen the movie and stumbling across it during one of the hunting expeditions I often make over free streaming services, I bagged the beast on Tubi after a short stalk with a shot in the only part of the anatomy in the title.
WARNING: The spoiler is that there isn't a spoiler for this movie.
Head stars Peter Tork, Davy Jones, Mickey Dolenz, and Michael Nesmith. I'll mention some other notables as the ramble progresses. The credited writers are Bob Rafelson, who also directed the movie, and Jack Nicholson, who has a cameo in the film.
If viewed as conventional movie with a linear and sequential plot, the movie makes less sense than an episode of the Monkees TV series. That's what I meant by the warning that there isn't a spoiler. There's no plot to give away. The movie opens with a mayor attempting to announce the opening of a bridge. Our 4 stars race through before the mayor can cut the red ribbon. They're chased by a strange bunch. Mickey leaps from the bridge into the river and is rescued by mermaids filmed in psychedelic negative. He wakes up someplace else being kissed by a girl who goes on to kiss each of the 4 musicians before she leaves.
The rest of the movie is a barrel of short skits--which are mostly incomplete as they bleed into the next sequence--old movie clips, and a continuity thread so tenuous that it often breaks completely. There is one concert scene near the beginning.
I was disappointed that we only got a single song from the concert. None of the other songs were bad, but I can't recall any of them.
There's also a point where the voices of the stars address the audience letting everyone know that this is their movie, not the prepackaged creation of a studio--sort of a warning that they'll be breaking the molds into which they've been pressed, and telling their own story.
On that note, they are frequently placed in a big black box and have to find ways to escape.
When they escape, they often find themselves running from Victor Mature--named Big Victor, which may be a reference to RCA Victor, the original distributor of the Monkees' records, and which was owned by NBC which aired the series.
Another pursuer is Logan Ramsey - best known to me as Proconsul on the "Bread and Circuses" episode of Star Trek.
Another Star Trek connection is a young Teri Garr who appears in a western vignette early in the movie. I believe this was around the same time she played Roberta Lincoln in "Assignment Earth."
Also appearing are Dennis Hopper, Frank Zappa, Annette Funicello, Vito Scotti, and Sonny Liston. A memorable scene includes the latter boxing Davy Jones. Dolenz finally climbs into the ring and knocks out almost everyone before the cops take him. The poignant part of that sketch is Tork appearing to assert that he's the dummy, he's always the dummy.
Jones goes into a dance number that switches from a white suit with black trim and surroundings to a black suit with white trim and surroundings.
In one sequence, Dolenz is in the desert and encounters a Coke machine that is empty or not working.
Mickey rages against the machine and eventually uses Vito Scotti's Italian tank to blow the machine to smitheroons (smitheroons being somewhat larger than smithereens in my private lexicon). In spite of the location, no Fremen, giant worms, droids, Jawas, or sand people made an appearance.
I don't even remember what sequence the above picture is from. Same with the one below.
Which is a pretty good summary of the movie. You probably won't remember what happens, because nothing really does happen. In fact, the movie concludes where it began, with the stars interrupting the bridge ceremony while being pursued. All the Monkees leap from the bridge.
The movie isn't about what happens. It's a surrealist presentation that succeeds brilliantly in conveying the angst and frustration of the individual stars in dealing with the system that created, packaged, and confined them inside the black box--whether that be a TV set or the rigid boundaries that stifled the group's creativity in favor of what the machine could sell. Unfortunately for the Monkees, they broke out of the box, but nobody cared.
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