Who Loves You - Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons 1975

Obsessed with this song this week, and indeed anything related to the
"Jersey Boys" and Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons at present.

I saw the musical "Jersey Boys" a few years back, and the movie twice over the last few weeks.

Once I made peace with the film being quite different to the musical, and the songs not
translating off the screen as well as they do in live theatre, I really enjoyed the movie.

Unfortunately, you don't get to hear much of the song in the film. 

Perhaps because the film is based on the original Four Seasons, and "Who Loves You"

wasn't released until 1975 when Frankie Valli was the only original member still performing. 

Although, original Four Seasons band member Bob Gaudio continued to write
and produce songs for the Four Seasons including "Who Loves You" and
"December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)" and Frankie Valli's solo career.


Who Loves You - 1975

Who Loves You - 2014 Jersey Boys Movie version



It's the 1970's version for me. Great tune!!

Skatetown USA 1979

Just discovered this film online and it's gone straight to the top of my download list.

Two rival disco roller skaters in a contest to win $1000 prize money and a Moped!

A very young Patrick Swayze, Maureen McCormick and Scott Baio.

They had me at disco-roller-skate.

Guest Post - My Sister and James Spader

I'm was excited to see an email in my Inbox with the title 'Guest Spot' 

from my beautiful, older and wiser sister Jenny.

She has been having a 'moment' with James Spader for the last few months, and has put it 

into words for me to share with you. Hopefully, by penning this post, she'll be able to 

move on from James, and I won't have to hear about it every phone call.

It's been ages since I had a guest post, so without further ado, I'll pass it over to Jen!

MY JAMES SPADER RETRO ROMANCE

Ever since James Spader returned to our small screens this year in The Blacklist, I have been having myself a little retro romance. The romance is completely one sided and involves me re-watching his movies from the 80’s and 90’s and falling in love with him all over again. Who can forget his nasty portrayal of Steff in Pretty in Pink?  I also loved his subdued, disturbed portrait of Graham in Sex, Lies and Videotape. However my favourite would have to be White Palace. White Palace is a romantic drama released in 1990 starring James Spader and Susan Sarandon. The film also stars Kathy Bates and Jason Alexander in supporting roles. The plot revolves around a 27 year old widower who begins an affair with a 40 something waitress. The script was written by Glenn Savan and he also wrote the book.  If you are after a romantic read, or a nostalgic night in, I would definitely recommend this book or film to rekindle your own retro romance. 

- Jenny

Goonies Adventure by Jim Ed Hardaway

I have been following Jim Ed Hardaway on Instagram for several months now.  

Through his Instagram feed, I saw that Jim was planning a trip to Astoria, Oregon in August 2013
to visit movie locations from the film The Goonies.

Jim lists The Goonies as one of his all time favourite films (along with the original STAR WARS troligy - he clearly has great taste in movies), and it's been on his Bucket List to head to Astoria, Oregon and visit the film locations from The Goonies.

Jim made a great short video of his trip, and shows you the locations as he visits them, 

along with shots of the relevant scenes from the film as a comparison.
 You can also read about Jim's trip to Astoria on his great site jimedhardaway.com HERE.

Such a cool thing to be able to lay eyes on actual places and spaces from a film you grew up with.
 If you're a Goonie fan like me, I'm sure you'll enjoy.

Many thanks to Jim for allowing me to share his Goonies trip here. : )

And here's the Truffle Shuffle - just because.

Airplane! (Flying High) - Crash Positions!

"Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue..."

Image via FogsMovieReviews
- who also has a great review of the film on his site,
along with some info on the films that the spoof movie is based on.

(NB I don't sniff glue...much....)

Tiny Dancer - Almost Famous

One of my favourite scenes from the movie "Almost Famous".

The film is loosely based on writer & director Cameron Crowe's real life experiences
writing for Rolling Stone magazine, touring with bands such as The Who, Led Zeppelin,
The Eagles & Lynyrd Skynyrd.

In this scene of the movie, the relationships in
the band "Stillwater" had become fractured, with egos and tempers flaring.

Guitarist Russell spends a night away from the band partying, and receives a
frosty reception when he's collected by the tour bus the following morning.

Elton John's song "Tiny Dancer" indirectly reconnects the band and clears the air.

I think of this particular scene every time I hear this tune on the radio.

Original vs Remake: Dolly & Whitney

Following on from my first Original vs Remake the End Dance Scene of Footloose here,
 I thought we might do a song for this round: 
Dolly Parton & Whitney Houston "I Will Always Love You".

Dolly wrote the song and released it in 1974. Her version is really beautiful and heartfelt.

Whitney recorded the song as a big ballad for The Bodyguard soundtrack released in 1992.

I cried my eyes out at the movie theatre when Whitney sang this song at the end of
The Bodyguard.

I'm not talking a little tear running down my face.
I'm talking sobbing, choking, had to 'bury my face in my jumper' kind of howling.

Not quite sure what brought on the tears - was it the scene, the song, The Costner or perhaps
just the drop in sugar levels from the bag of Maltesers, and SuperSize Coke I had consumed earlier?
Perhaps we'll never know.

So while both versions are great and original versions are generally hard to beat,
I have to go with Whitney and The Bodyguard on this one.

Remake for me.

Your thoughts - Original or Remake?

Shake your tailfeather

Image via listal

Kicking off Monday with a song and a dance.

Great scene from the 1980 film The Blues Brothers.

It never gets old.

Airplane! (Flying High) 1980 - Ted Striker Stayin' Alive

Few men move on the dance floor like Ted Striker in Airplane!
(or Flying High as it was titled here in Australia).

 It's good to be back : )

The Karate Kid 1984

"Daniel-san!"

The Karate Kid - one of my all time favourite 80's films.
The kind I watch EVERY single time it's on TV - even though I've seen it 100 times before.

This clip is a great turning point in the movie, and I think one of the best scenes in the film.

After days of completing what he believes to simply be chores, Daniel confronts 
Mr. Miyagi about his lack of Karate training and learns not everything is as it seems.

Image via ew.com

European Vacation 1985 - Train Scene

"Is it youuuuuu? Or is it youuu? Or youu? It's me"

 

Image: Fanpop.com

Overboard 1987

One of my late 80's faves.

So many great lines and scenes in this movie.

Goldie Hawn is priceless as her character Joanna Stapleton.

As with many 80's flicks, there was talk of a remake a few years back with J Lo as Goldie's character.
I think not.

Image via zipandakick.com

Romancing the Stone 1984

Great film from 1984 directed by Robert Zemeckis & music by Alan Silvestri.

Kathleen Turner is romance writer Joan Wilder who travels to Columbia to find her kidnapped sister. She is detoured upon her arrival in Columbia and rescued by Jack T. Colton (Michael Douglas), who agrees to see her safely to her destination for a fee.

It was surprisingly hard to find any good clips from the film - 

apparently FOX studios remove them as soon as they appear online. 

The original trailer is one of the few clips I could find.

There has been buzz online for years now that a remake is in the works. 

Hmmm, think it would all come down to the right casting. 

The 80's original would be pretty hard to beat though.

Ease On Down The Road

Some disco to kick off the week - 'Ease on Down the Road' from the 1978 movie musical The Wiz.
Great tune that's been in my head all day - time to pass it on...

Live - 1981 Michael Jackson & Diana Ross Special

Full Soundtrack version

Arthur 1981

Great early 80's film that was a favourite on the old VCR in my household growing up. 

Taped off the TV of course - and may have even had the odd ad break taken out here and there. (Remember forgetting to take it off pause again when the ads were over, and realising you've missed recording a whole section of the movie? Disaster.)

Arthur - Original Trailer

And had to include a clip of this scene for my sister -

"Perry you're a dead man...."

STAR WARS Week - Kurt Russell & William Katt Audition

This is an excerpt of Kurt Russell's audition as Han Solo and William Katt (The Greatest American Hero) as Luke Skywalker.

It's hard to imagine anyone other than Harrison Ford and Mark Hamill in these iconic roles.
And although no one could ever compare to Harrison Ford, I think Kurt Russell does a good job in this and may have made quite a good Han Solo.

Thoughts?

This is an except from Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford auditioning together, reading the same lines as the previous clip.

Copyright Lucasfilm Ltd 2012

STAR WARS Week - Rescuing Princess Leia

One of favourite scenes from 'A New Hope' 1977 where Luke, Han and Chewy head into the detention center to rescue Princess Leia.
I love Han's awkward intercom conversation with the Imperial Officer. "We're fine, we're all fine, here now thank you. How are you?"
The scene also two other great lines from the film - "Aren't you a little short for a stormtrooper?" and of course "I'm Luke Skywalker, I'm here to rescue you".

STAR WARS Week - Disco Album

Last year I devoted a whole week of blogposts to STAR WARS, and being the 

complete (& proud) STAR WARS geek that I am, I'm doing it again!!

(In truth, a week would never be enough and a whole new blog devoted to STAR WARS 

would be more worthy, but I will try and reign the geek in and keep it to a week.)

So, let's do it! 

I'm kicking the first post off with some 70's disco flavour. 

The original film STAR WARS: A New Hope was released in May 1977 amidst the disco era, so it was only fitting that a disco version of the soundtrack soon followed.

The disco album was titled 'STAR WARS and other Galactic Funk'. (Gold!)

The album's main single 'STAR WARS theme/Cantina Band' reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in October 1977.

Here is an audio clip of the main single from the album.

Prepare to Feel Tha Funk - STAR WARS style.

The Breakfast Club 1985 - Dance Scene

Great scene from the 80's classic.

I love Brian's head rolls and Claire's super tidy dance moves.

 Song - We Are Not Alone by Karla DeVito.

Image via

Muriel's Wedding - I'm with Muriel

Muriel's Wedding 1994

Starring Toni Collette, Rachel Griffiths, Bill Hunter.

Directed by P. J. Hogan

After years of treating Muriel (Toni Collette) badly, Tania Degano & her nasty little crew finally get their just desserts. And Rhonda (Rachel Griffiths) is just the girl to give it to them.

Great scene. (I had to include the cat fight at the talent show that follows - priceless.)

Cop that Tania!