Once Upon a Record: A Very Musical Autobiography by Geoffrey K Weule

Author:Geoffrey K Weule [Weule, Geoffrey K]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Autobiography
Publisher: MoshPit Publishing
Published: 2017-07-17T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

A memorable night at the movies!

Number One:

“Jump in My Car”

– Ted Mulry Gang, February 1976

Pier Paolo Pasolini was murdered on the 2nd November 1975; some say for making the movie; Salo, or 120 Days of Sodom! Was I about to meet the same fate for watching it?

As my taxi drove off from outside the Hollywood cinema, I knew instinctively that something was not right.

I left Sydney in January 1976 to attend the 10th Anniversary of the annual international music convention (MIDEM), in Cannes. Shortly before my departure, a media storm had been brewing over Pasolini’s latest, and as it turned out, his last film, Salo, or 120 Days of Sodom. The Australian Censorship Board was under a lot of pressure to ban the film outright and in fact during the course of my trip, that is exactly what happened.

After MIDEM, I went to London for a round of talks and meetings with my colleagues from EMI Records head office, and then across to Hollywood to have similar meetings at Capitol Records, located in their iconic Capitol Tower building.

I saw in the local press where restricted late night screenings were being held for Pasolini’s ‘Salo’. It was my last night in Hollywood and I decided to have a late dinner and then go and see what all of the fuss was about. I found a very nice restaurant quite close to the cinema, so I bought a ticket and then went off to enjoy a fine Italian meal.

I gave myself plenty of time and after finishing my delicious meal, I strolled slowly back to the cinema where people were beginning to arrive for the late night showing.

I felt somewhat embarrassed but thought, well nobody knows me, so what the heck!

Having read quite a lot about the film, I was well aware of the intensely sadistic violence and the explicit scenes. The film definitely exceeded what most viewers could accept at the time, regarding the various taboo subjects that it embraced. Pasolini had been murdered in Ostia, Rome, Italy, before the movie was even released and to this very day mystery still surrounds his death. The perpetrator or perpetrators, together with the reason, remain unknown.

The cinema was rapidly filling up and I took my aisle seat about three quarters of the way back. By the time the film was about to commence, the theatre was full to capacity.

As the film progressed, many people began to leave and not return. The gruesome scenes were far worse than I had imagined they would be. The young couple sitting next to me excused themselves and as they left the chap said to me, “You have got a stronger stomach than we have”. I began to realize that the cinema was now less than half full and several people were dry retching and being sick. The audience dwindled to the point where I was one of only about 20 or 30 left. I decided to stick it out if I could, and with half closed eyes, I heroically made it to the end.

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