IT'S ONLY MAKE BELIEVE 001

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ANYTHING, ANYWHERE, ANYTIME 036

 

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01 - LET’S GO (The Routers) (1962)

02 – GREAT BALLS OF FIRE (Georgia Gibbs) (1957)

03 – TRUE LOVE, TRUE LOVE (Buzz Clifford) (1961)

04 – YOU BELONG TO ME (The Fore-Evers) (1962)

05 – GRADUATION DAY (The Four Freshmen) (1956)

06 – GRADUATION DAY (The Beach Boys) (1964)

07 – BUTTERCUP POPCORN (Commercial Jingle)

08 – ALL BY MYSELF (Robert Gordon) (1979)

09 – I NEVER HEARD A MAN (B.B. King) (1959)

10 – MY LOVE FOR YOU (Little Isadore & The Inquisitors) (1996)

11 – THAT’LL MAKE IT NICE (Eli & The Manhattans) (1959)

12 – JOHNNY ANGEL (Patti Lynn) (1962)

13 – GREENFIELDS (The Brothers Four) (1960)

14 – ASPIRADORA ENCERADORA RUTÓN (Commercial Jingle)

15 – LO QUE HACE A LAS CHICAS LLORAR (Soledad Miranda) (1964)

16 – LOVE AND KISSES (Janis Martin) (1957)

17 – LONG TALL SALLY (Elvis Presley) (1956)

18 – I DON’T CARE IF THE SUN DON’T SHINE (The Pawnbrokers) (1997)

19 – DARK CITY (Trailer) (1950)

20 – ACTION PACKED (Ronnie Dawson) (1958)

21 – OH ROSE MARIE (The Fascinators) (1957)

22 – NO! NO! NO! (The Dovells) (1961)

23 – THIS LOVE OF OURS (The Delrons) (1961)

24 – OVER THE RAINBOW (The Delrons) (1961)

25 – ELVIS PEREZ (Sergio Bustamante) (1957)

26 – MISTER LONELY (The Videls) (1960)

27 – GREAT BALLS OF FIRE (Jerry Lee Lewis) (1957) 

28 - RAUNCHY (Bill Justis) (1957) 

SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES 017: BORN RECKLESS (1958)

Mamie Van Doren meets itinerant rodeo bull and horse rider Kelly Cobb (actor Jeff Richards) and his buddy, a wizened veteran rodeo hand "Cool Man" (actor Arthur Hunnicutt) and the three end up travelling together from rodeo to rodeo. Frequently, she is accosted by men who are too eager to invade Jackie's personal space and repeatedly Kelly comes running to the rescue. Soon an unsaid romantic interest is growing between the two, but wealthy rodeo fan Liz (Carol Ohmart) intervenes and distracts Kelly not only from Jackie, but from his original goals for following rodeos in the first place: to scrape together enough money to buy a piece of land to settle down on. 

Van Doren sings several numbers in "Born Reckless" (Home Type Girl; A Little Longer; Separate The Men From The Boys; Something To Dream About and a very short version of the main title: Born Reckless) and usually hits her notes, but not always, and this seems to indicate a lack of training or lack of time on the part of the production company to get it right. The script from Richard Landau leans heavily on double entendres more or less in the same mode as some Marilyn Monroe films, but Landau goes a step further with rodeo language and it certainly becomes tedious and making us wonder if they were confused whether Van Doren was a human being or livestock. Director Koch follows suit with camera positions that seem intended to record the biggest possible visual statement about Van Doren's torso. 

There are plenty of perfectly banal scenes in which Van Doren, Richards and Hunnicutt struggle to survive while on the rodeo circuit, crisscrossing the rural United States and living off bad food and dealing with dangerous animals, double-dealing rodeo business people and loneliness, and the question is why didn't Landau and Koch build-up and sharpen this human part of the film versus the laughably exploitive parts? 

Van Doren is quite good in some places, as is Hunnicutt everytime he's on camera, but Richards is doomed to play a male love interest that inexplicably goes from kind-hearted, hard-fisted country boy to seedy, washed-out and jaded for a long segment, and then back to patient and sincere, which doesn't make a lot of sense except its how the mechanical plot requires him to go when Carol Ohmart pulls him from the Hollywood straight and narrow. 

There are pieces here and there of a pretty good film interspersed throughout the 80 minute runtime, but too much of "Born Reckless" is predictable, and at its worst it becomes a smarmy cartoon. Stunt work is good, and the rodeo segments are good, too. But in the end, Hunnicutt deserves better, Van Doren needed better, and Richards probably would have been better, too, with a different production emphasis. 

As Jerry Lee Lewis is to his chief Sun rockabilly contemporaries, so is Mamie Van Doren to the great blond bombshells of the 1950s and '60s: She's the Last Woman Standing. Unlike Lewis, she's not a major talent, but she's always a hoot - an underappreciated B-movie monument to Mother Nature and undergarment engineering that has outlived A-list rivals Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield by decades. 

Van Doren may not have made many "good" movies, but she never made a boring one. The titles tell the lurid stories: "Untamed Youth," "High School Confidential," "Sex Kittens Go To College," "Vice Raid." One of the more unusual is "Born Reckless". Its movie's leering punchline poster promises: "She's every big-time rodeo prize rolled into one... tight pair of pants!" 

But before we get to the main feature, let's enjoy... 

The Pre-Show: 

       

Today's Pre-Show is completely and exclusively dedicated to Mamie Van Doren, through six documentaries, each one of them displaying different angles of the main character in question. It's a pleasure to recuperate these moments in time which, not only, reflects certain aspects of Van Doren's personality not obvious in her film roles but it hands us a moment "frozen" in time, which will bring back memories to some and to the rest it will show us interesting aspects of the society world of a time "long" gone by. 

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The Main Feature: 

Title: Born Reckless 

Director: Howard W. Koch 

Cast: Mamie Van Doren / Jeff Richards / Arthur Hunnicutt

Release Date: 1958

Country: United States Of America 

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On Your Way Out: 

I regret to say that today's "On Your Way Out" offering is somewhat a scanty souvenir to take home. Specially, I apologize for not offering a book or mag on the figure of Mamie Van Doren to accompany today's flick. But for the life of me, I couldn't find, in all my extensive bibliography any reference to one of the extraordinary three Ms Bombshells. Hopefully, what you find is of use and it will help you enjoy today's gifts. 

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SHADE'S VINTAGE RADIO SPECIAL 021: WHAT'S IN A NAME? - ROCK AND ROLL! (CD Version)

 

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THE SKY'S THE LIMIT 019 (CD Version)

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COMING SOON...!

 

Friedrich Nietzsche once said: "Without music, life would be a mistake". 

I can't compare with Nietzsche's eloquence but, I consider I equal his "line of thought" when I claim: "Music was my first love and it will be my last!" (as the sub-title of this blog's heading has stated since Day One!). 

It all began with "Anything, Anywhere, Anytime", then it continued with "The Sky's The Limit". Once I had clear what was to be included in both programmes I felt the need for a third party to complete the trilogy. Therefore, "Shade's Vintage Radio Special" took shape, where I could expand on any musical style or performer. 

When everything seemed to be set in stone, I needed to incorporate a fourth addition to what already seemed a complete enough "musical" blog. Thus, "Saturday Night At The Movies" was born. Cinema plus music equals, undoubtedly, the perfect combination. 

And here I am with a new offering, which hopefully, will appeal to you all: "It's Only Make Believe". It is born with the idea of sharing musical videos, extracted from various sources, be it a concert, a promotional video or even a very wealthy source which is "The 7th Art" (motion pictures). Something I've been doing for ages, for my personal pleasure and which I've decided it's time to share, with whoever is interested.  

So basically, it will be a visual mix (all in one file) of the different styles the sister programmes (stated above) offer, followed by a CD version of said programme. Hopefully you'll decide to join us on this added musical adventure which Shade's Vintage Radio has decided to undertake. 

As usual, thanks for reading. 

Take care,

Shade. 

"Music is forever, music should grow and mature with you, following you right on up until you die". (Paul Simon). 

ANYTHING, ANYWHERE, ANYTIME 019 (CD Version)

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