I have two movies, the first being "Cop Hater"(1958), a title I find distasteful but it was a pretty good flick in spite of that, about a dedicated detective trying to solve the killings of his partner and two other policemen in a precinct overrun with crime. A teenage street gang seems to hold an equal power balance with the police, which is strange. Why don't the cops just wipe these punks out? The gang are known as the Grovers, an unusual name (unless they mean it for Grover Cleveland), and their leader Jerry Orbach has no qualms and seemingly little fear about presenting a smug front to the commander of the station. Or maybe a sullen front. Sullen was a great word that has gone out of use, but it perfectly suited the demeanor of some teenagers in the heyday of youth culture.
The power balance in the film seems to stem from the amount of guns the Grovers have stashed around town. The cops are afraid to enter certain neighborhoods or go into certain dwellings due to the possibility of ambush. The commander threatens to wipe the smirk off Jerry Orbach's face and says, "I thought we had a truce with you punks?"
You can tell the police would like to steamroll these kids, but the gang has too much firepower to allow it, and it might erupt into a street war that would endanger local citizens.
But a young, slim Robert Loggia is gonna find the cop killer, because that is out of freaking bounds. First of all, are the killings related? There seems to be a pattern, and Orbach seems to be telling the truth about a recent gang revenge attack that resulted in a cop getting mugged. He says it was mistaken identity. Is there a higher power putting the screws to the Grovers? Loggia is gonna get to the bottom of it, but it's causing him stress which he drowns with a bottle. His beautiful deaf-mute wife is his savior.
Gerald O'Loughlin plays a macho, buffed up detective who walks around shirtless. He's got a swinger wife with a statuesque figure who seems to be supporting their lifestyle.
There's a lot going on under the surface of Cop Hater if you know what to look for. I didn't follow it as closely as I'd have liked to, but give it a shot.
Our other movie is "The Man I Married"(1940), starring Joan Bennett and Francis Lederer as a society couple who, as a favor to a friend, infiltrate the Dachau concentration camp to try and help a man escape. We've seen it before, and one of these days we need to do a Joan Bennett retrospective. She was a unique and uniquely beautiful and very talented actress who deserves more recognition.
I have good news to report at CSUN: signs have been posted on sandwich-board frames around campus, alerting riders of electric scooters of the protocols of using those vehicles. No riding on sidewalks, riders must stop at all stop signs, and no passengers. Hooray! It's a step in the right direction. Good for CSUN, and thank you.
Today was the 60th anniversary of the release date of "Meet the Beatles", which in many ways could be The Greatest Album Ever Made. It was certainly, for me, the record that got me rocking. I'm not sure that many things in any form, or any sensation - of touch, taste, smell, sight or hearing - affected me the way that album did. I'd really have to think about it, but yeah, from the first song (and especially that song) "I Want To Hold Your Hand", I was in. I played that album over and over and over again on my sisters' red plastic record box. I was 3 years and a little over nine months old. One thing that fazed me was that, on the back cover, George Harrison was listed as playing "lead" guitar. I got it confused with lead (the metal) and couldn't make the connection. "What's a lead guitar?" It was kind of like mixing up The Who with The Guess Who years later, and Rush with Mahogany Rush.
Judas Priest released a third song from their upcoming album. I've been very impressed by what I've heard so far. All three songs are great. They've taken their time with this one, and if the rest of the album holds to this standard it could be a JP classic. So far, it sounds like one of their '80s albums, as far as songwriting goes. The solos are all Richie Faulkner, but I wouldn't be surprised if Glenn Tipton co-composed them and said "hey, Richie, play this!" Not that Faulkner couldn't write them on his own, but they have that Tipton melodic counterpart, and Glenn, because of his condition, can't play those fast runs anymore. So he may have co-written them and said "Richie, go get 'em!" I am not a fan of shredding, but when you can do it like this, well....that's what makes it Judas Priest. And I think it was always Rob Halford's true calling to be a priest, not only of heavy metal but of Christian faith. He's bringing that through in his lyrics more than ever, especially in the new song "Crown of Horns".
I am trying to buy a copy of Celtic Frost's "Cold Lake", the notorious CF "hair metal" album that Thomas Gabriel Fisher (aka Tom G. Warrior) has disowned. I bought a copy right after it was released on September 1, 1988, and at first, I was taken aback. The hairdos, the slick production.....what the hell? But (hey Tom, c'mon) many of the songs are good. Some are very good, in a more generic metal context. "Downtown Hanoi", "Cherry Orchards", "Petty Obsession", "Juices Like Wine". The whole first side is pretty good. It sounds like a commercial version of Celtic Frost, but if they'd have put it on the radio, it would've shook things up at the very least.
The problem is that now, even though it's supposedly reviled by fans and Tom G. Warrior alike, it's a collectors item and you've gotta pay $190 for a copy, which wouldn't be prudent as President Bush would say. I did find a copy for 20 bucks on discogs.com, but try signing in to that website and let me know how it goes.
I had a ticket to the Celtic Frost concert at The Country Club on April 7th, 1989. They were touring in support of "Cold Lake" (or maybe in spite of it), and I was stoked because I'd seen them in Long Beach in 1986 and 1987, both times at Fender's (and they killed), but now they were playing in Reseda, my hometown! Unfortunately I never made it to the Country Club show because of extenuating circumstances. It killed me not to go, and I even drove to the venue, but when I got there I thought it would not be prudent.
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