3rd Chair Trombone: WHAT JORTS WAS DOING TWENTY YEARS AGO (JD)

« Behold: BRONSON (TS) | Main | THEY'RE THE SAME GUY (JD) »

WHAT JORTS WAS DOING TWENTY YEARS AGO (JD)

Nov 02, 2009 | Permalink

Comments

Bertie gets progressively less cooler as the video wears on. Like these moments:

1) the way he holds her arm and she turns back to give him that goofy grin (1:05)
2) when they ascend the stairs at 1:07 and the girl seems to keep running in place like a puppet.
3) you know (at 1:12) he tried to kiss her during the take, but either she turned her head for a cheek smack, or it was became so uncomfortable for the viewer that they decided to edit it out
4) the "I think it's over" sequence at 2:00, consisting of reactions shots of the girl that are meant to make it seem as though she's lost interest, but which I'm convinced were just the camera guy letting the mag roll out.
5) acting with the overbite
6) I'd like to believe that every stitch of clothing Bertie Higgins owned at the time was either socks or a one piece unitard made to look like cabana wear
7) I just realized what the video's subtext is: Bertie is taking the girl out into the ocean to kill her and dump her body
5) sniffing her hair midverse

Posted by: Tim | Nov 02, 2009 at 08:38 AM

Tim, I'm with you on number seven. It all had a very "Elizabeth Smart/Jaycee Dugard" vibe to me. With wife number one working the camera.

Posted by: jenny | Nov 02, 2009 at 09:24 AM

Around the 2 minute mark, I like to image them atop a fast-moving Rose Bowl Parade float.

Posted by: Jiff | Nov 02, 2009 at 11:13 AM

Jenny's back!

Rose Bowl float!

5) sniffing her hair midverse

Posted by: Tim | Nov 02, 2009 at 01:43 PM

Um, didn't a hurricane hit Key Largo in that movie? And didn't the hotel they stayed at get taken over by murderous fugitives? And didn't the wheelchair-bound patriarch find out his war-hero son was a sham? And didn't Bogie have to resort to killing everybody onboard a renegade boat just to escape with his own life? Boy, we really had it all, didn't we?

Posted by: bobby | Nov 02, 2009 at 04:03 PM

*I* keep thinking about how this was compiled by mag roll-outs.

Posted by: Jiff | Nov 03, 2009 at 07:46 AM

HOW BORED IS THIS WOMAN?

Posted by: Jiff | Nov 03, 2009 at 07:48 AM

I don't think they had a single permit to shoot this thing. Every shot is super tight, cropping out any potential postcard shot of Key Largo itself. In fact, I'd like to believe that initial reveal of the girl was shot angle down because they were actually in front of the killer whale exhibit at Sea World.

2 minute mark: either in the Rose Bowl Parade float, or Bertie burned the clutch out in his Datsun and they had to get a ride back from the marina in the back of a day laborer's truck.

What I want to see: all the outtakes of that first shot of him looking off smoking. You gotta think he screwed that one up over and over...forgot his lines...bird crapped on his forehead...bounce card blew in the shot...sneezed after the head turn...trying an alternate take first with a cigar, then a pipe, then a kazoo, then a party streamer...did one whole take with a tiny booger trembling from one nostril.

Posted by: Tim | Nov 03, 2009 at 07:04 PM

Day laborer's truck!

Posted by: Jiff | Nov 04, 2009 at 10:39 AM

This is more attention than the video got when it was out.

Posted by: bobby | Nov 04, 2009 at 11:01 AM

Wife K and I watched "Key Largo" (the film) the other night... and I felt subconsciously disappointed that this song didn't play over the end credits.

Posted by: Jiff | Nov 05, 2009 at 08:25 AM