As you know I like to track anniversary dates but somehow it had slipped me by that today it's been 25 years since Bob Geldof (pictured left) convinced a gajillion rock stars to sing for free to feed Ethiopia. Everyone showed. I don't really know the history of the benefit concert in general but this felt like the first one to me. Ah, the naivete of youth!
MTV, who would know such things, recalls the numbers. Here's a list of everyone who took the stage. Insanity. Imagine if you were making a biopic about this event, who you'd have to cast? I guess biopic isn't the right term. Historical epic! But whatever.
It was epic. I mean Queen, Mick Jagger & Tina Turner, Madonna
Whew...
Icons.
So, let's play Cast This!
Here's a visual chart of a some people pulled semi-randomly from the event that I thought might be fun to cast. If you're too young to recall these people -- not everyone can be Madonna and maintain ubiquity for centuries -- cast by their faces.
From left to right that's: Bob Geldof (your star!), Adam Ant, Madonna, Freddie Mercury of Queen (whatever happened to his biopic? There was one in development). Second row: Joan Baez (played by Julianne Moore sort of in I'm Not There), Sade, Bryan Ferry and Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders. Go! *
"They always said that the living would envy the dead ♫ "
It's sometimes hard to reconcile the ranting, racist, drunk nutso Mel Gibson of the now and the Mel Gibson of the early 80s: beautiful,talented, sane... or at least not visibly otherwise. Perhaps he was always a fundie rageaholic nutjob and his publicists and managers were as skilled as Tom Cruise's once were at reigning the Crazy in?
Today marks the 25th anniversary of a Mel Gibson movie that it's hard to remember Mel Gibson even being in. Which makes it an appropriate choice to write about since we'd sometimes like to forget him.
But that's unkind. It's not really Mel's fault that the lasting impression from Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome belongs to Tina Turner. By 1985 he'd already done all he could with the lead character in George Miller's trilogy. And who can compete with Anna Mae Bullock's pipes? Her vocals open and close the film. Her rendition of "We Don't Need Another Hero" might well be the only artifact from the third film that still inspires nostalgia. It's one of those power ballads that's just too bombastic to have existed anywhere outside of, say, 1982-1986 or the complete works of Meat Loaf.
What's more, Tina Turner had potent if rarely utilized screen presence. She plays Aunty Entity, the queen bitch of "Bartertown" and the film's villain of sorts. Some actors choose scripts based on the number of character lines. Some choose them based on the filmmaking team or script quality. Remember that scene in What's Love Got To Do With It where Oscar-nominated Angela Bassett is in court as Anna Mae Bullock trying to keep her rights to the stage name "Tina Turner"? 'I fought to too hard for this name!' Surely Tina chose her rare films on the basis of character names, too. Aunty Entity, The Acid Queen, The Mayor. She doesn't mess around. Like many great stars she understood personal branding and her movie character names are as badass and strong as she.
She gets all of Beyond Thunderdome's best lines and moments.
Consider her frankness.
Max: I want to get a closer look at him. How do I get in there? Henchman: It's a factory, isn't it? Ask for work. Max: I don't know anything about methane.
Aunty: You can shovel shit, can't you?
Her sense of humor. (This is a hilariously bitchy aside to her saxophonist while she's listening to Mad Max's story.)
"Play something Ton Ton. Something tragic."
And her lack of sentiment.
In one beautifully judged moment, Tina turns her back to the camera as if Aunty is about to launch into a huge monologue about her ascendance. 'This nobody had a chance to become somebody.' And then she spins around, the story finished before it has even begun.
"Enough history. Water?"
Discarding her own triumphant backstory like it bores her? This is some woman.
And like any of the best movie villains (or characters for that matter) she knew how to make an entrance (lowered from the sky to the top of the Thunderdome with lights blazing behind her) and an exit, laughing off her rivalry with Max -- "Ain't we a pair?" -- before leaving him behind in a cloud of dust.
Tina only made four movies and Aunty Entity was her most substantial acting gig. Pity that she hasn't acted in the past seventeen years. Was Tina Turner the best rock star actor that never pursued acting?
P.S. This postpunk postapocalypse series will be rebooted in two years as Mad Max: Fury Road with Tom Hardy in the lead role. It's probably a good fit. Like the early Mel Gibson he's beautiful, talented and ... well he's too new to truly determine sanity levels. But his bizarre star turn in Bronson suggests that he can at least vividly imagine the nutjob within. And you have to be a little crazy to survive an apocalypse, don't you? Though if you're a little too crazy you'll bring on your own personal variety... as the original Mad Max, Mad Mel, can attest. *
And finally, let's give it up for the legendary Tina Turner. You're simply the best... ♪ you're better than all the rest... better than anyone... anyone i ever met. She turns the big 7-0 today. You know she coulda been in more pictures had she wanted it post Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome. Loved her as 'Auntie Entity'. But since she didn't really care about acting, at least she let others do it for her. All hail the great Angela Bassett, Tina's cinematic counterpart in that fiery Oscar nominated star turn in What's Love Got To Do With It (1993). What's your favorite Tina Turner song? Sing it out in the comments. I'll start...
Youbetter be good to me That's how it's gotta be now Cause I don't have no use For what you loosely call the truth You better be good to me...
That's mine! Not from a movie alas. Not that I don't love her movie songs and since this The Film Experience, let's hear 'em. Here's the underrated "I Don't Wanna Fight" from her biopic and the classic "We Don't Need Another Hero" from Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome
Today was a crazy DVD day with new releases: Ratatouille, Sicko, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry; complete series like Seinfeld, Gilligans Island and Full House (yes someone somewhere will buy 8... 8! seasons of that); special edition of Chinatown; and collections of Bob Hope and the Coen Bros (not together --what a mindf*** that'd be)... but for reasons I can't quite explain even to myself the only one I've been thinking about is the James Bond Collection. All of them, the official ones at least.
Like most living breathing sentient beings I enjoyed last year's great franchise defribulator Casino Royale. There was so much to enjoy: Daniel Craig in a speedo, Eva Green all bewitching, Daniel Craig in closeup, high energy gritty stuntwork, Daniel Craig naked. But one thing I did not enjoy was the theme song. I'm of the opinion that the perfect opening credit balance to the patented two following hours of Bond's unique machismo is tough chicks doing the theme songs. So since I have Bond on the brain...
Top Ten Bond Songs
10 Duran Duran's "A View to a Kill" Not technically girl singers but Nick Rhodes and John Taylor sure were pretty weren't they? Does anyone out there remember Taylor's 9 1/2 Weeks song "I Do What I Do (To Have You)"? num-num 09 Rita Coolidge "All Time High" I loved Octopussy as a kid. Forgive me
08 (to the right above) Tina Turner's "Goldeneye" -I wasn't a huge fan at the time but it stuck. And Tina was an ideal choice for a Bond singer. I always wish that she'd made more movies --loved her in Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome 07 (to the left above) Madonna's "Die Another Day" She's not kidding. Like an energizer bunny that one. 06 Sheena Easton "For Your Eyes Only" (below, left) cheesy dated power ballads have a treasured place in the Bond world 05 Garbage "The World is Not Enough" (below, right)
04 Paul Mccartney "Live and Let Die" The highest ranking Bond guy song 03 & 02 (to the left below) Shirley Bassey's "Goldfinger" and "Diamonds are Forever" the Bond girl singer 01 (to the right below) Carly Simon's "Nobody Does it Better" To paraphrase Sandra Bernhard --and I don't think she'd mind since given her Carly referencing in other monologues -- 'no one speaks of Carly Simon anymore and that truly saddens me'
The Film Experience™ was created by Nathaniel Rogers, gemini, actressexual and cinephile. All material herein is written and copyrighted by him, unless otherwise noted.
As you know I like to track anniversary dates but somehow it had slipped me by that today it's been 25 years since Bob Geldof (pictured left) convinced a gajillion rock stars to sing for free to feed Ethiopia. Everyone showed. I don't really know the history of the benefit concert in general but this felt like the first one to me. Ah, the naivete of youth!
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