comment #1

George Prager says ...

That's pretty funny.

comment #2

George Prager says ...

Vietnam: A Television History was the best thing I ever saw about the `60s.
http://imdb.com/title/tt0185129/

Eyes on the Prize was #2.

comment #3

SpinDozer says ...

Very, very low expectations for "insight" from this 'documentary'. Doesn't a documentary need a Point of View? Something other than all your preconceptions about this subject are true?

But in fairness, 'For what Its Worth' & 'Ohio', to give another example, would be tough to top in terms of insight they provided...

comment #4

RoyBatty says ...

So that's what that song is. What can I say, I'm a film geek and not a music one.

Neil Genzlinger's dead on and not just about docs. It also shows up in narrative features, probably because it's cheaper than "Paint It Black" or "All Along The Watchtower."

comment #5

K. Bowen says ...

You know, Donovan's Hurdy Gurdy Man is now permanently attached to Zodiac. But that's been another extremely popular song in movies for establishing the "sixties feel." I remember thinking that it had appeared in a couple movies just in the year-ish prior to Zodiac. BOBBY being one of them.

But yeah, that's a great wry observation about "For What It's Worth."

comment #6

Walter Sobchak says ...

Thanks for saving me the two hours I might have spent watching. I love 20th Century history, but the 60's glorification by aging baby boomers is beyond tiresome. The whole notion that in the 1960's every American male between 17 and 30 was either a tie-dyed, pot-smoking hippie protesting injustice or a sucker fighting in Vietnam is perpetuated by tripe like this.

Let me go ahead and forecast the rest of the soundtrack... "All Along the Watchtower" (accompanying shots of Hueys landing in a rice paddy), "Everybody Get Together", "White Rabbit" (when talking about the increasing influence of drugs on the culture), "San Francisco" (obvious reasons), and "Respect" (scenes of Civil RIghts marches).

I've now got gas.

comment #7

Craig Kennedy says ...

Using 'porn' as a descriptor has long outworn its usefulness. It is snark porn.

comment #8

SpinDozer says ...

'The whole notion that in the 1960's every American male between 17 and 30 was either a tie-dyed, pot-smoking hippie protesting injustice or a sucker fighting in Vietnam is perpetuated by tripe like this.'

Exactly, what we really need is a look at the right wingers of the 60s, Karl Rove was a campaign volunteer in 68 learning techniques, Bush was partying in his flight suit, Cheyney was sitting on his butt in a classroom pretty close to the spot where Madison Police were beating the shit out of peaceful protestors at UofM WI, etc. HRM was digging for Goldwater. The Reactionaries have been neglected.

comment #9

joncro says ...

Speaking of Rove, check this out, 4 mins in.

And, speaking of 'Eyes on the Prize', this gem is now almost unavailable because of copyright holdups. The owners of the newsreel footage refuse to give the producers a break for a general DVD release. It's only available to institiutions. It needs to be seen everywhere.

comment #10

joncro says ...

The link!
I forgot the link!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BM0zJl9Bxk8

comment #11

Walter Sobchak says ...

Hey SpinDozer, you dumbshit, in your unrestrained rush to do your AirAmerica thing yet again you missed the point....

It would be like saying that every young person in the 80's was either an Alex P. Keaton Reagan campaign worker or Ducky from "Pretty in Pink".

Most young people in the 60's simply "were". That is, they went to school, got jobs, thought about going to college, possibly went to college, tried to get laid and ended up having families. Not all of them burned their draft cards, grew their hair long, got jobs as Democratic staffers then went to work as a journalist for a major media outlet.

Anyway, I see y'all already miss Karl Rove.

comment #12

Intense Guy II says ...

Another go-to track for lazy 1960s moviemakers: Norman Greenbaum’s “Spirit In The Sky.”

comment #13

SpinDozer says ...

Great idea for a documentary, we need more documentaries about people who 'went to school, got jobs, thought about going to college, possibly went to college, tried to get laid and ended up having families'.

Another grand idea would be to have a documentary about clouds, or a tree as it grows from a small seedling to a mighty oak, timelapsed photography of a decade of this sort of thing would be splendid. You've made an extremely valuable contribution to film art and I salute you.

comment #14

Walter Sobchak says ...

"Oooooo, even at that young age you can see the evil in KKKarl Rove's face.... I even see horns starting to sprout!"

Thanks for that link, joncro... I've seen it before and it's quite interesting for a number of reasons.... I love watching Rather and Cronkite straining to conceal their loathing of Nixon & Co. ... I also dig the groovy font of that "Campaign '72" sign....

Republicans using computers to raise campaign funds?! Will they stop at nothing?!

comment #15

Walter Sobchak says ...

I'd much rather see your documentary on the 60's, SpinDozer.

How about shots of the Be-In in San Francisco? Maybe some of that great stock footage of the Haight? ("Come on people, now... smile on your brother, everybody get together try to love one another right now")

Then you can do a doc on the Great Depression... we could get a shot of a soup line and that guy wearing the sandwich board offering to work while we listen to "Brother Can You Spare A Dime"?.... oh yeah, and that Lange photo "Migrant Mother...

How about a doc on the 1970's, you know, when EVERYBODY had Disco Fever and hung out at Studio 54!

The SpinDozer film festival! A fun for all cliche-a-thon!

comment #16

SpinDozer says ...

Holy schnikeys wally boy, you've kinda gone round the bend. I merely observed that you were correct that the 60's are presented pretty one-sided. There should be more cinematic representation of the right. Not my fault if it shows that the reactionaries were not terribly appealing.

Your point that I "missed" that there should be more representation of 'ordinary' people leading ordinary lives is, in a word, stupid.

comment #17

Joe Leydon says ...

You beat me to it, Racsluous. In fact, I sometimes wonder if "Spirit in the Sky" has been used even more often than "For What It's Worth."

BTW: Best two uses of "For What's It Worth" -- 1960s live performance on The Smothers Brothers (with, no kidding, jokey cut-ins by the Smothers Brothers) and He Got Game (arguably the least political and/or era-setting use of the song, ever).

comment #18

Walter Sobchak says ...

I'm going to the 1:00 pm show of "Control" on Monday at the Fairfax Theater.... who's with me?

Let's see if this damn thing's as good as Wells says it is.

comment #19

K. Bowen says ...

As annoying as it has been to hear Boomers go on and on about it for most of my Gen X life, I do kinda wish I'd seen the sixties. It does seem like a really exciting time. I feel sorry for young people today. They're coming of age in such a bland cultural time, compared to, say, 1968 or 1992.

comment #20

Joe Leydon says ...

K. Bowen: It hasn't taken very long for people to start looking back at The Clinton Administration as "the good old days." I just wonder how much, if at all, that will affect Hillary's presidential campaign.

comment #21

Walter Sobchak says ...

1992?..... you're kidding, right?

comment #22

Walter Sobchak says ...

And by the way, 1968 was an awful time. I'm sure it was exciting, in much the same way Pearl Harbor, 9/11 was "exciting", but I don't think it was something to look back fondly on. RFK, MLK getting killed, the war dragging on, inner-city riots, the Tigers beating the Cardinals, Gibson losing game 7, unrest on campuses, the Soviet beat-down in Prague..... it was a gloomy time...

That's one of the reasons boomers can be so damned annoying... they get all sentimental and maudlin about it because they were getting laid and doing Owsley acid and participating in bitchin' protests against a war that they had no fear of getting sent to themselves (college deferments, etc.)

a terribly historic and important time, yes.... but a pretty shitty year all in all

comment #23

MAGGA says ...

The 60s kids should now forever be branded "the sell-out generation".

comment #24

SpinDozer says ...

'a terribly historic and important time, yes.... but a pretty shitty year all in all.'

The world felt like it was coming apart.

'participating in bitchin' protests against a war that they had no fear of getting sent to themselves (college deferments, etc.)'

One of the dumber statements you have made. Getting caught, thrown in jail on 'resisting arrest' or 'public disorder' charges was a real good way to lose your deferment, etc. It shows how desperately the war was hated that so many took those risks.

comment #25

K. Bowen says ...

1992-ish was the last time there had been a discernible youth culture explosion in the popular mainstream (alternative/hip-hop, indie films, etc.). That's what I mean by listing it.

comment #26

K. Bowen says ...

From a historical-importance perspective, though, you'd be looking at 1989.

comment #27

K. Bowen says ...

From a historical-importance perspective, though, you'd be looking at 1989.

comment #28

MAGGA says ...

DAMN! Just wrote a lengthy post comparing different eras and the log-in function screwed up. In short: The sixities were "exciting" because of very troubled times and desperation for being heard. The collective rallying behind certain musical movements had a lot to do with lack of options, which can be a good and a bad thing. Today we are living in the middle of the internet-revolution in terms of pop-cultural impact, there is a terrific dance-movement going on, poltical comedy has had tremendous impact over tha last couple of years and we have the potential to be part of a monumental cultural shift if we take global warming seriously. All times are interesting, and claiming that one has to look to 1992 for a significant cultural movement is simply a sign of aging.

comment #29

K. Bowen says ...

"claiming that one has to look to 1992 for a significant cultural movement is simply a sign of aging."

Probably.

comment #30

christian says ...

Well which is Walter?

"they get all sentimental and maudlin about it because they were getting laid and doing Owsley acid and participating in bitchin' protests against a war that they had no fear of getting sent to themselves (college deferments, etc.)"

"Most young people in the 60's simply "were". That is, they went to school, got jobs, thought about going to college, possibly went to college, tried to get laid and ended up having families. Not all of them burned their draft cards, grew their hair long, got jobs as Democratic staffers then went to work as a journalist for a major media outlet."

comment #31

christian says ...

Or better still, "Well which is IT, Walter?"

comment #32

Walter Sobchak says ...

I'll tell you, Sister Christian..... the ones that rhapsodize about it and did all of those typically 60's "things" are the people who graduated from the elite universities and went to work in journalism and show biz.... in other words, the ones writing the "history" of those times... it's like the journos who just couldn't believe that G.W.Bush didn't attend ANY rallies or protests or attend ONE free music and arts festival while he was in college... now, hate W. all you want but the fact is, as banal and uninvolved as that sounds, (especially during those times), that's what most kids that age were doing.... (I know, he was rich and Ivy and inherited, etc. ... but still....)

and Dozer.... most of those brave protesters who were "fighting the good fight" against that "illegal war" wandered off to do other things once Nixon ended the draft...

comment #33

SpinDozer says ...

'most of those brave protesters who were "fighting the good fight" against that "illegal war" wandered off to do other things once Nixon ended the draft...'

I suppose there is a relevant point here regarding the 60's and antiwar protests and the end of the draft in '73, or else you wouldn't have posted, right? Could it be that 10 years of protests that did't meet the objective of ending the war finally convinced many of the particapants that there was little to be gained?

'the ones that rhapsodize about it and did all of those typically 60's "things" are the people who graduated from the elite universities and went to work in journalism and show biz....'

Sounds like the people who use 'For What Its Worth' in the soundtrack aren't the only ones promoting a false understanding of the 60's...Your Nattering Nabob suit looks pretty good from a great distance, the effect wears off once you get close enough for people to smell the bullshit.

comment #34

K. Bowen says ...

"Another go-to track for lazy 1960s moviemakers: Norman Greenbaum’s “Spirit In The Sky.”"

Another one is "Eve of Destruction" by Barry what's his face.

comment #35

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