Music for an Imaginary Wes Anderson Film, Track #4.

Just got back from a night out with some friends — a very good Cuban restaurant in Palo Alto was the highlight of the evening (apparently Bill Clinton’s favorite, when he’s in Silicon Valley). But alas, we ended up at the lamest-ass club in the world, Fanny and Alexander — this was mistakenly called “Frederick and Alexander” by these two women smoking in front of Gordon Biersch who recommended it, which gave my gay friend some false optimism. The lesson: never trust the recommendation of a couple of drunken temps, who couldn’t even recognize a Bergman film if it smacked them in the face, ever again.

Anyhow, this post has really no relation to the music, except that 1) Francoise Hardy’s “Comment Te Dire Adieu” is cool, even if it’s French; 2) it’ll probably fit in a Wes Anderson film, in some, um, gently ironic scene.

All right, I gotta crash.

Hear it (3.33 mb, .m4a)

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[Answers posted.]

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Shot 1:

The philosophical detective Lemmy Caution (played by Eddie Constantine — what a cool name) walks by a naked woman in a vitrine, in Jean Luc-Godard’s pulp sci-fi noir Alphaville (1965).

Shot 2:

Egbert Sousè (W.C. Fields) discovers the perks of his new job as a detective for the Bank of Lompoc — a free calendar. Edward F. Cline’s The Bank Dick (1940) is not necessarily Fields’ funniest film — the honor goes to It’s A Gift — but his prodigious gift for misanthropic, drunken verbal repartee is on full display here. The madcap car chase sequence at the end is a minor miracle.

Shot 3:

The titular character of Ralph Bakshi’s Fritz the Cat (1972) gets it on with slumming coeds — from Columbia or NYU, I can’t remember which. The callow, wise-ass Fritz isn’t the reason to watch the rather dated and puerile film; it’s the set-pieces built around “ethnic” dialogue, that are probably the most interesting.

Shot 4:

Penises are instrinsically funny, as Brian (the late Graham Chapman) discovers to his dismay in Terry Jones’s Monty Python’s The Life of Brian (1979).

Shot 5:

In one of the most controversial (and fascinatingly unwatchable) films ever, a group of beautiful youths are trapped in a palazzo in the last days of Mussolini’s Fascist regime. Pier Paolo Pasolini’s gorgeously vile Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1976) is, thankfully, one of a kind, and one designed — its attention to visual complicity on the part of the audience perhaps makes this clear — to be seen only once. (Be thankful I’m not using this film for the next quiz’s theme.)

Four people got all five films correctly: Chris Bales, Brandon, Greg Levrault, and Rolf Riebig. Congratulate them for being able to identify five movies with naked people in it.

Quiz 5: we’ve done nudity, so violence is up next…

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Soundtrack to an Imaginary Wes Anderson Film, Track 3.

Nick Lowe’s “So It Goes” will have to be played during some sort of montage: a quick rundown of our characters’ backgrounds (or futures), perhaps. I love the hints of impending political apocalypse, the way Lowe hurtles through the chorus, the vague similarity to “Reelin’ in the Years” — a perfect little pop song.

Hear it (3.51 mb, m4a).

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[Answers and a new quiz coming up...]

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