Act Naturally by Steve Matteo

Author:Steve Matteo
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Backbeat
Published: 2023-03-21T00:00:00+00:00

WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT?

In 1966, the movies would also go through a rapid change. The Beatles, the ever-expanding British Invasion, and Swinging London along with the British movie scene were all thriving. Two films of this time were era-defining movies that still resonate today: Alfie and Blow-up. While Zulu (1964) established Michael Caine’s acting prowess, and The Ipcress File (1965) put him on the map with the role of Harry Palmer (and he’d return as Harry Palmer in two more pictures), Alfie made him an international star, and he has never looked back. The film was directed by Lewis Gil-bert, who would go on to do You Only Live Twice, the first of three Bond films he’d direct, the 1970 film Friends, featuring a soundtrack by Elton John, and Educating Rita, among others. Alfie’s screenplay was by Bill Naughton, which was adapted from his own play. Otto Heller, who began his 50-year career in movies early in 1920s during the silent era, was the cinematographer. The title song, by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, was sung over the closing credits by Cher in the US release, and Millicent Martin (who also played Siddie in the film) in the British release. Dionne Warwick and Cilla Black also recorded hit versions of the song. The soundtrack also featured the music of Sonny Rollins. Interestingly, Shirley Bassey, of Bond themes fame, has a small uncredited role in the film. It is easily one of the best soundtracks for a British film produced in the 1960s. American Shelley Winters also starred in the film, and two other actresses have connections to the Beatles: Jane Asher, who was Paul Mc-Cartney’s girlfriend, and Help! costar Eleanor Bron, making her second feature film appearance. The film captured the shifting landscapes of the sexual revolution, and Caine’s portrayal of the swinging womanizer is one of the most important roles by an actor in a British film in the 1960s. Caine’s first memoir, published in 1992, was named after the opening lyric of the title song, What’s It All about?

The second movie that reflected a seismic change in film in the 1960s was Blow-Up, directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, released in the US on December 18, 1966, and in the UK in March 1967. An Italian/American/British production, and Antonioni’s first all English-language film, the movie was set in London and starred British actors David Hemmings, Vanessa Redgrave, and Sarah Miles. The idea for Blow-Up actually began with producer Carlo Ponti. Inspired by a Francis Wyndham article on young Swinging London photographers such as David Bailey that he’d seen in the Guardian, he began developing a film idea. He also drew from the short story The Devil’s Spittle by Julio Cortázar, a writer associated with a Latin American boom in literature from Argentina that also included Gabriel García Márquez, Mario Vargas Llosa, and Carlos Fuentes. At one point, Ponti even approached David Bailey to make the film, but it didn’t pan out. Making a film with a photographer as the lead made the choice of cinematographer especially important, and Antonioni chose Carlo Di Palma.

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