Wednesday, May 7, 2008

BLOWUP!


This is a cool clip of the swinging London go-go scene of the mid-60s from Antonioni's "Blow-up." Carnaby Street fashions, mod birds in mini-skirts, cool rock music, and Thomas, played by David Hemmings, loosely based on mod photographer David Bailey, racing around London in a sports car convertible trying to solve a murder he thinks he's accidentally photographed in a park.
What more could you ask for? How about The Yardbirds, featuring Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page? They're the uncredited pop group in this scene. Groovy, baby. By the way, I love the chick with the striped pants. Meet you at the discotheque.

2 comments:

expatbrian said...

OMG. It's too painful to watch the whole thing. The zombies in Night of the Living Dead were more enthusiastic than this crowd. I assume the director was trying to show us how stoned out everyone was, but I've been to plenty of concerts full of stoners and with a good band, you can't stand still. Oh well. I remember seeing this movie decades ago and I remember I liked it. I just don't remember why.

Bob Rini said...

The band is great, but you're right about the crowd. I think they're trying to act cool and sophisticated. Maybe it's that British reserve. It was still a couple years from total wigged-out madness, so maybe they could use a good freaking out. Still, I think this movie belongs in a time capsule. I half expect the Beatles to pop in, but more likely it would be Austin Powers. The crowd would probably still act like a glacier.